Matt Bomer has spilt some major tea about the creation of his Fellow Travelers sex scenes.
Back in October 2023, the critically acclaimed historical drama made its grand debut on Showtime and Paramount+ in the UK.
Based on Thomas Mallon’s novel, the show follows the volatile romance of Tim Laughlin (Jonathan Bailey) and Hawkins Fuller (Bomer), two very different men who meet in the shadow of McCarthy-era Washington.
While the Emmy-nominated show has been praised for its stellar acting performances and heartwrenching subject matter, the eight-episode miniseries also turned heads for its handful of graphic sex scenes.
From toe-sucking and oral sex to unbridled threesomes and intense cruising moments, the show held nothing back when exploring the different facets of gay sex.
In a recent interview on Entertainment Weekly’s The Awardist podcast, Bomer gave insight into the series’ sexual content – revealing that Showtime and the show’s production company, Freemantle, encouraged him and Bailey to push the envelope.
“I have to say creatively on this, so much of my cynicism was obliterated, particularly by the fact that we were lucky enough to work with Fremantle and Showtime, who from the beginning were giving us notes that weren’t constricting at all,” he explained.
“They were actually liberating. They were saying, ‘No, go farther. Embarrass yourself. Go too far. Try to scare us. Try to see how far you can push it.’ And that kind of permission, I felt, even bled into the acting work on set because it came from the people who were in power who could make those decisions.”
Bomer went on to praise Showtime and Fremantle for fully supporting Fellow Travelers, its scripts and showrunner Ron Nyswaner, adding that the show may have looked different if it had been made 10 years earlier.
The White Collar star isn’t the only member of the Fellow Travelers team to discuss the show’s sex scenes.
In a 2023 interview with GAY TIMES, Nyswaner opened up about shining an empowering light on gay sex within the series.
“For me, when I came out in the 70s, those were the celebratory days of the gay experience. It was pre-AIDS, and we were released. Sex is the way that we express our community,” he explained.
“No one was going to get married. We were all going to live in communes. We had all raised children together. That’s what we all thought in the 70s, including my straight friends. That connection that I got to have with other gay men, whether it was one night or a little bit longer, it was very powerful to me, and it gave me joy.
“That excitement and that joy, dancing to Donna Summer and doing poppers on the dancefloor, sex was at the heart of our gay revolution… We wanted the sex to be powerful in Fellow Travelers, because I believe it is a really powerful part of the gay experience.”
All eight episodes of Fellow Travelers are now available on Paramount Plus in the UK and US.
Latest
