Two of Hollywood’s most swoonworthy heartthrobs cozy up in the first teaser for Showtime’s hotly anticipated new series, Fellow Travellers.
Adapted by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Ron Nyswaner from Thomas Mallon’s 2007 novel, Fellow Travellers follows a decadeslong, same-sex romance between a newly minted college graduate, Tim Laughlin (played by Jonathan Bailey), and a war hero-turned-State Department official, Hawkins Fuller (Matt Bomer).
The couple’s relationship begins in secret during the anti-LGBTQ+ Lavender Scare of the 1950s, during which thousands of US government employees were fired or forced to resign because of their sexuality, and continues through the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the ’80s.
In addition to Bailey and Bomer, the show – which Entertainment Weekly describes as an “epic love story entangled in a political thriller” – also stars Allison Williams as Lucy Smith, a senator’s daughter who has known Hawkins since the two were teenagers.
Showtime dropped the first teaser for the series Thursday, which happened to be the first day of LGBTQ+ Pride Month. That point wasn’t lost on Bailey, who shared the footage on his Instagram account with the note: “Happy Pride, beautiful people.”
Watch the teaser for Fellow Travellers below:
“Fellow Travelers” was very much a passion project for Bailey, who has long expressed his desire to bring a “sweeping gay love story” to the small screen, but feared it would never be possible with actors like him and Bomer ― who are both gay in real life ― in leading roles.
“To me, being queer also is about, as two men, how you negotiate your giving of your body to the other person,” the actor, best known for his portrayal of Lord Anthony Bridgerton on Netflix’s Bridgerton, told Vanity Fair last month. “That is something that I’ve always yearned to see properly done because I know how extraordinary it is to experience it.” He went on to note: “It’s been just the most joyous, emotional, and also informative experience I’ve had on a job.”
While Bomer has also starred in LGBTQ-inclusive projects like HBO’s The Normal Heart and Netflix’s The Boys in the Band, he was thrilled by the opportunity to embody a character who experiences dramatic shifts in his personal and private life over the course of 35 years.
“It was really interesting to find the different types of expression of their love and intimacy over the different time periods,” the Magic Mike actor told Vanity Fair. “It was like opening a Christmas present every time I would see [Bailey] in a new time period and see what he would bring to the table with it in this new chapter of Tim’s life.”
Fellow Travellers premieres this autumn on Showtime in the US, while a UK broadcaster is yet to be announced.