Bridgerton hottie cast as Matt Bomer’s gay love interest
Matt Bomer’s love interest in the series adaptation of the Thomas Mallon novel Fellow Travelers has been announced.
…And it’s none other than Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey. The British heartthrob, who plays Anthony Bridgerton, has played in a gay-themed project before, in the play Cock opposite Taron Egerton. In Fellow Travelers Bailey will play Tim Laughlin, an idealistic and religious university graduate. In an Instagram post Bailey wrote that he was “thrilled” to be onboard this “epic” story.
Matt Bomer responded, posting “So excited and grateful to be working with you in this!”
It comes as Variety reported the eight-episode limited series based on the novel by Thomas Mallon follows the love story of two very different men who meet in 1950s McCarthy-era Washington.
Bomer plays handsome, charismatic Hawkins Fuller, who works behind the scenes in DC in politics and sparks fly when he meets Bailey’s character and they become romantically involved against the backdrop of the U.S. government’s war on “subversives and sexual deviants,” driven by the figures of Roy Cohn and Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
The series will follow Hawkins and Tim for forty years through key American periods such as the Vietnam War protests, the disco years of the 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, and how they each change.
Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia) is adapting the book for the screen and will also serve as an executive producer on the series. The series begins shooting in Toronto in July.
“As a thrilling and deeply moving exploration of character and American life in the latter half of the past century, ‘Fellow Travelers’ shines an unprecedented light on stories that are as urgent today as ever,” Jana Winograde, co-president of entertainment for Showtime Networks told Variety.
“The series delivers us directly into an insider world of Washington rife with national consequences, while drawing out the intimate moments that are profoundly personal and often heartbreaking. We are beyond thrilled to have Ron, Matt, Robbie and Daniel take us on this suspenseful and romantic journey.”
