Jonathan Bailey quickly won the hearts of Bridgerton fans when he went from a “capital R rake” in Season 1 to a married viscount in Season 2.
Though fans are still head over heels for Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma’s slow-burn love story, Jonathan is back to give fans another love story for a different series.
Going to Showtime, Jonathan is set to play actor Matt Bomer’s lover in the miniseries Fellow Travelers.
Jonathan Bailey cast as Matt Bomer’s lover in Fellow Travelers
Fellow Travelers takes place shortly after World War II amidst the Red Scare and other social and political changes in history.
Matt Bomer will be playing handsome, charismatic, and charming Hawkins Fuller. Hawkins prefers to avoid emotional ordeals, that is until he meets Tim Laughlin.
Jonathan Bailey will play Tim Laughlin, an idealistic and religious man who we can assume falls quickly for the handsome Hawkins Fuller.
However, their romance is soon met with a challenge: US Senator Joseph McCarthy and chief counsel Roy Cohn are taking aim at “subversives and sexual deviants,” which directly targeted members of the LGBT+ community.
Though Hollywood has previously come under fire for casting straight, cis-gendered actors to play LGBT+ characters, both Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey are gay and will play LGBT+ roles, a huge step forward for many and a great way to promote inclusion.
What is the story of Fellow Travelers?
The Fellow Travelers miniseries is an adaptation of author Thomas Mallon’s novel by the same name. It is considered to be both a romance and a thriller as the story takes readers from McCarthy-era Washington and through an additional 40-year timespan.
Hawkins and Tim are followed through their journeys as they cross paths over the next four decades, such as during the Vietnam War protests in the 1960s, the disco life in the 70s, and even the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.
Oscar-nominated screenwriter Ron Nyswaner created the series. In the past, Nyswaner worked on the LGBT+ film Philadelphia. He will be an executive producer alongside Matt Bomer and Robbie Rogers.
Production for the show is set to begin at the end of July in Toronto, hopefully allowing time for Bridgerton to wrap up for Jonathan Bailey’s sake. The miniseries is set to be eight episodes long.
Though there is no set release date for the limited series, fans can still check out Thomas Mallon’s novel for the full story.
Fellow Travelers’ release date is TBD.