Time works differently on the set ofFellow Travelers.
It’s not what we typically think of as linear.
It’s as if the past, the present, and the future are all unfolding simultaneously.
Hawk (Matt Bomer) and Tim (Jonathan Bailey) steal away a moment by the beach in ‘Fellow Travelers’.Ben Mark Holzberg/SHOWTIME
That sensation feels most apparent one particular Wednesday afternoon in Toronto in early November.
Bomer can’t seem to smell anything, but his costar insists the savory aroma is there.
“Is that what’s on my fingers?”
Allison Williams' Lucy Smith in ‘Fellow Travelers’.Ben Mark Holzberg/SHOWTIME
Does the smell actually still linger days later or is it a sensory echo?
Chicken noodle soup," Bailey remarks and then the cameras roll for their fourth take.
“It haunted me for years,” Nyswaner says of the novel.
Senator Joseph McCarthy (Chris Bauer) and chief legal counsel Roy Cohn (Will Brill) in ‘Fellow Travelers’.Ben Mark Holzberg/SHOWTIME
“They’re both fixers,” he says.
“Ray’s someone who has his own moral code and is immoral.
Hawk has his own moral code, but it’s very specific to being a closeted gay man.”
Jelani Alladin as Marcus Hooks and Noah J. Ricketts as Frankie Hines in ‘Fellow Travelers’.Ben Mark Holzberg/SHOWTIME
“I find sometimes that gay characters are made too clean,” Nyswaner reflects.
“They’re made too noble.
I’m just tired of that.
Matt Bomer’s Hawk and Jonathan Bailey’s Tim in one of their more intimate moments of ‘Fellow Travelers’.Courtesy of SHOWTIME
Hawkins Fuller certainly is a very complicated, sometimes unlikeable antihero.
I think that helps us get away with a lot.”
“Jonny’s character inBridgetonis a little bit like Hawkins Fuller.
He’s kind of ruthless and he’s in charge,” Nyswaner points out.
“Jonny’s version of Tim is so vulnerable.
The two stars got together over Zoom for a chemistry read.
The showrunner remembers, “It was electric.”
There are two other core relationships explored inFellow Travelers.
One is Hawk and Lucy, both hiding parts of themselves from each other.
It’s “that struggle of, where is my loyalty?
Sometimes I would say, ‘Can I put that in the scene?’
So, that was a really beautiful collaboration.”
And, the actor notes, “every drag queen has a drag mother.”
The politics of sex
The first glimpse the public saw ofFellow Travelerscame unexpectedly in September 2022.
Rogers says they had to shoot those scenes first by necessity as winter wasn’t far off.
Little did they know, paparazzi were hiding out nearby.
Rogers was admittedly stressed at first when photos of the scene spread online.
“My first reaction was, ‘Is this gonna affect shooting going forward?’
I had that experience with Harry Styles in England when we didMy Policeman.
So, maybe I was traumatized,” he recalls, laughing.
The leak ended up being the best thing forFellow Travelers.
A cheeky Nyswaner agrees, “It was not a bad thing that those images came out.”
Even now, however, the series is going to prove sexier than some might be prepared for.
In one scene that occurs early on, Hawk is prepping for a party thrown by Senator McCarthy.
“I’m your boy, right?”
Bailey’s Tim says, already working his seductive magic.
“And your boy wants to go to the party.”
(Watch the clip in the video below.)
“What sets these sex scenes apart is that they are moving the story forward,” he explains.
Sex is about power.”
That was one rule.
That proved to be harder than they all realized.
Minahan, who directs the first episode, ended up setting that tone for the whole show.
His life and sexuality is so compartmentalized.
“It’s actors finding that with each other and feeling safe on set, feeling safe with us.
“If your secret was revealed, your life could be ruined.
I slightly felt that way in my past career,” he recalls.
Minahan’s connection, meanwhile, came from growing up gay through the ’80s.
“I think we put ourselves in things in ways we don’t even know,” Nyswaner remarks.
He felt similarly compelled to include that time period inFellow Travelers.
But the drama feels richer for expanding well beyond the ’50s setting of Mallon’s novel.
Perhaps he’ll get the chance to tell even more.
The current Hollywood writer and actor strikes, however, are putting those early talks on hold.
“How about if I just say…?
Because of the strike, we haven’t spoken to any of our studio executives about it.
When the strike ends, that’ll be a conversation that I hope to have immediately with them.
That seems to be yet another rule ofFellow Travelers.
Fellow Travelerspremieres Oct. 27 on Paramount+ with Showtime.
Actor interviews were conducted on the set ofFellow Travelersin November 2022, before the SAG-AFTRA strike.
