Jonathan Bailey isn't dancing through this question. The Fellow Travelers star—who recently earned his first Emmy nomination for his supporting role in the Showtime limited series—recently shared insight into playing a character across four decades. And this includes how he chose the prosthetic penis he wore for the show's more intimate scenes.
"There are these beautiful sex scenes throughout," Jonathan emphasized on Late Night With Seth Meyers Aug. 15, "which are so important." After noting how the scenes help set the stage for the decades-long love story between his character and Matt Bomer 's character in the show, he shared insight into his many options, with Seth showing a NSFW picture to the audience of a set of prosthetic options, joking that they were Jonathan's "stunt doubles.
" And that chosen prosthetic penis ended up being in it for the long haul. "There's so many things that change with Tim, the character that I play his," Jonathan said, noting that while his costume and hair change, "there's one thing that remained the same throughout." For many of the scenes, he explained that he did wear a "protective layer,"—often called a modesty garment—but because of the nature of the show, he joked that he wanted "to choose something that maybe reflects what's actually going on.
" And despite the very serious themes of Fellow Travelers —which follows Jonathan's character Tim and Matt's character Hawk from the Lavender Scare in the '50s through to the AIDs epidemic in the '80s—the Wicked star did find ways to have some fun, especially as it came to saying goodbye to his character. In fact, Jonathan then showed off another NSFW photo of his modesty cloth sporting googly eyes, with the prosthetic peeking through, adding, "On the last day, Beth , my amazing wardrobe assistant, cheered me up." The Bridgerton actor was then delighted to find "Little Timmy" in his bag when he got home that evening, joking that it "sort of represents how I was feeling inside.
" And while the acclaimed limited series has seen both Jonathan and Matt celebrated for their work, beyond the accolades, the show gave them a special bond—from the very start. "We sat down," Jonathan told E! News in November of their first in person meeting, "and it felt a sort of biblical moment actually, looking back." And as Matt put it, the two made a "pact to have each other's backs.
" "I knew that Jonny was a tremendous actor," the White Collar alum continued. "So, a lot of it was just trusting the work you brought to the set that day, and then working opposite a great actor.".
