Adapted by Oscar nominee Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia) from Thomas Mallon’s 2007 novel, Fellow Travelers is set in the early 50s.
It examines the romance between Hawkins Fuller played by Matt Bomer, a charismatic if somewhat opaque war hero turned political staffer, and Tim Laughlin, Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey, a religious idealist looking for a way into DC politics. (Both Bomer and Bailey identify as gay.)
They meet at the dawn of the ’50s Lavender Scare, in which Senator Joseph McCarthy and his chief counsel Roy Cohn purged whomever they deemed gay or lesbian from government roles—dubbing them communist sympathizers—and sparked a national moral panic around homosexuality.
The series is a sort chronicle of queer American history, using the evolution of Hawk and Tim’s relationship through various eras before ending in the AIDS epidemic of the 80s.
According to Vanity Fair, the story is largely told through sex. Bailey says,
The nuance of a complicated, volatile queer relationship is the power balance—and that is what is amazing about Tim and Hawk.
Every single sex scene is a meticulous examination of power.”
Bomer says,
There’s a level of trust and intimacy that’s even more valuable when society is against you. You keep your secrets together.”
Fellow Travelers premieres this Fall on Paramount+ and Showtime.
(Photos, Showtime; via Vanity Fair)
