Leo Woodall has embraced the “new territory” that comes with portraying his queer character in Prime Target.
The new conspiracy thriller series, from Apple TV, stars the One Day alum as Edward Brooks, a math graduate who is “on the verge of a major breakthrough”.
As per the synopsis: “If he succeeds in finding a pattern in prime numbers, he will hold the key to every computer in the world.
“Soon, he begins to realize an unseen enemy is trying to destroy his idea before it’s even born.which throws him into the orbit of Taylah Sanders, an NSA agent (Quintessa Swindell) who’s been tasked with watching and reporting on mathematicians’ behavior.
“Together, they start to unravel the troubling conspiracy Edward is at the heart of.”
In Prime Target’s premiere, Woodall’s lead character was revealed to be queer when he slept with Fra Fee’s bartender, Adam Mellor. Their relationship develops over the following episodes.
Given the lack of queer representation in the thriller genre, especially from a male lead perspective, Prime Target’s romance made waves on social media.
“Prime Target on Apple TV full of gay people okay slay,” one viewer tweeted.
“#PrimeTarget on Apple TV is my new favorite show!” said another. “A good storyline to keep me hooked and a gay main character with a hot love interest?! Count me in!” (Visit here for more reactions.)
In a recent interview with Queerly, Woodall said he’s never “taken on a role like Ed”: “I’d previously played guys who were very outgoing and sociable and get into mischief and enjoy a bit of mischief and are very good with people.
“And Ed is none of those things. He’s not good with people, he doesn’t like people, he doesn’t like going out, he hates any sense of mischief or…”
Woodall added: “He breaks some rules, don’t get me wrong, but for me, it was a new territory and I was very interested in exploring that.”
Swindell, who is non-binary, said they don’t want to “perpetuate any stereotypes” about the LGBTQIA+ community within their work.
“So being non-binary, a lot of people would look at me and be like, ‘Oh, but you’re fem-presenting. For a non-binary character, you’ll have to have a shaved head, or colored hair, or a bunch of piercings, or tattoos, or have to act a certain type of way,'” they explained.
“And I’m kind of like, if that doesn’t broaden people’s understanding of who can be trans, queer, non-binary, gender identity, sexuality, then for me, I’m kinda like, ‘Maybe it’s for someone else.'”
They lauded Prime Target’s depiction of Ed, saying his queerness is “not something that’s very obvious, it’s just a byproduct of who he actually is and doesn’t need to be discussed”.
“But rather it’s more of a question of who he’s decided to open his life to, which I really respected and I thought was something that I wanted to be a part of when looking at the broad scope of the series. And then more personally for me, I’m like, ‘Okay, there are stunts, so I definitely want to do the show.'”
Woodall memorably rose to fame as an uncle-fucked in the second season of The White Lotus, before gaining worldwide recognition and acclaim as Dexter Mayhew in One Day. He made his major film debut this year as Renee Zellweger’s new love interest in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.
Swindell is best-known for their role as Tabitha Foster in Trinkets and Maxine Hunkel/Cyclone in Black Adam.
Prime Target airs every Wednesday on Apple TV+.
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