Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer are forbidden lovers in the first trailer for Fellow Travelers
Jonathan Bailey (left) and Matt Bomer (right) star in Fellow Travelers. (Showtime)
Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey enter the cut-throat world of McCarthy-era US in the first official trailer for period drama Fellow Travelers.
The leading men have already captured viewers’ hearts in the first look at the highly anticipated, eight-episode series created Ron Nyswaner, who was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay of 1993 Aids drama, Philadelphia.
Now, Bailey and Bomer are set to leave viewers on edge in this racy political thriller that exposes the human cost of Republican senator Joseph McCarthy’s witch hunt against the LGBTQ+ community.
The story spans three decades, from protests against the Vietnam War in the 60s to the “drug-fuelled disco hedonism of the 70s” through to the start of the heart-wrenching Aids crisis.
Based on the bestselling novel by Thomas Mallon, Fellow Travelers follows Hawkins (Hawk) Fuller, a politically ambitious upstart whose life is turned upside down when he meets Tim Laughlin, “a young man who’s brimming with idealism and religious faith”.
The two-minute trailer shows Hawk (Bomer) under the spotlight as he deftly avoids questions prying into his romantic life, such as “have you ever had inappropriate physical contact with another man”, a scene interspersed with images of his passionate love affair with Tim (Bailey).
As the couple become entangled in a life-altering affair, they must hide their love for each other amid interrogations from the likes of the vile and vicious closeted gay man Roy Cohn, sham marriages and the world of politics.
We are also introduced to other main characters: Marcus Hooks (Jelani Alladin), Frankie Hines (Noah J Ricketts) and Hawk’s troubled wife Lucy Smith (Allison Williams).
As the stakes rise, the trailer shows glimpses of the police violently raiding gay bars while the two men’s feelings for each other growing deeper and deeper. “It’s not who we sleep with, it’s who we love,” Tim tells Hawk.
The trailer promises gorgeously filmed sex scenes, a vibrant and powerful exploration of the LGBTQ+ community, a confronting commentary of 20th-century US politics and an “epic love story”.
Fellow Travellers airs on Paramount+ on 28 October in the UK and Showtime in the US.
