How Fellow Travelers’ love story entered LGBTQ+ territory in the 2020s

When Fellow travelers When creator Ron Nyswaner thinks back to filming the series, he is left breathless. Tears flow as the writer and producer recalls being on set and making history with a series that featured four openly gay actors – playing gay characters – and four proud LGBTQ producers working behind the scenes.

“We pursued a mission, Fellow travelers”, says Nyswaner The Hollywood Reporter“To do justice to the people who suffered and were persecuted, who lost their lives during the lavender scare, and to do justice to the people who died of AIDS and to honor them. In a way, it was sacred.”

“(Jonathan Bailey) told the crew on his last night when he was done. I’m so moved,” Nyswaner says, pausing for a moment as his eyes well up. “He said, ‘It’ll never be like this again.’ And that’s how we all felt.”

In Fellow travelersBailey and Matt Bomer play the roles of Tim and Hawk, male political operatives who fall in love in the 1950s, when homosexuals were considered a national security risk and communist sympathizers, alongside Jelani Alladin as reporter Marcus Gaines and Noah J. Ricketts as drag performer Frankie Hines. Nyswaner, Bomer, Daniel Minahan and Robbie Rogers are executive producers of the Showtime series, which also streams on Paramount+. The series was well received by critics and viewers and was nominated for three Emmys, including for Bomer and Bailey. Nyswaner is nominated for outstanding writing for a miniseries or anthology series or a movie.

“(Tim and Hawk) are possibly one of the first gay couples whose love story is played on television by two openly gay actors, (and) that this couple has been so enthusiastically received by audiences on social media and now at the Emmys is really, really impressive,” he says.

Nyswaner, who wrote the screenplay for Philadelphiastarted working on Fellow travelers in 2012 when he moved to Los Angeles to immerse himself in the world of television. He wrote and produced for Hometown And Robert Donovanand has spent the last four years completing his passion project, which aired late last year.

Here, Nyswaner talks about his connection to the Emmy-nominated series, a possible spin-off, and his cameo appearance on the show being canceled.

The series has generated a lot of talk and discussion. What have viewers and fans told you?

I’ve had these extraordinary conversations with people who feel like a part of their life has been revealed in a way they’ve never experienced before – whether it’s someone telling me that they could never fully forgive their father for leaving their mother for a man, and that they wish he were still alive because they understand him now. They really touch me today. A woman wrote to me to say that her son had died, and you know, Hawk loses a child, and she’d never seen that grief expressed as poignantly as it was by Matt in this episode. Those are the things that really move me, that people are sharing their private lives, that the show is moving them to do that.

Did you think that the gay love story between Jelani and Noah would be so well received?

I was determined to put black characters at the forefront in Fellow Travelers. They only exist in the show (and not in Thomas Mallon’s book, which the show is based on). When I was researching that era, the ’50s, I found that there was this really vibrant black journalism – that really inspired me to create a black journalist character. And Stormé DeLarverie, this famous drag performer, this drag king who I never knew existed, inspired me to create Frankie. I wanted that culture. It was absolutely necessary.

I was a little nervous because, of course, I’m not black, and it’s special when a white creator creates black characters. But I worked really hard to build connections with black collaborators: my writers (Brandon K. Hines), the director (Destiny Ekaragha), the crew (head hairstylist Antoinette Julien), and the actors. Jelani kept a journal that he wrote in Marcus’ voice, and he would come into my office every now and then and read me pages from his journal. I’m really proud of that part of our show. And we received the (Social Impact) Award from the African American Film Critics Association.

The characters Jelanis and Noah could play the main roles in a spin-off.

And we’re going to ask all our fans to write to Paramount and ask them to do it. We’ve suggested it. They haven’t done anything yet, so let’s put pressure on them.

You had a cameo appearance in Philadelphia as a priest. Did you have a guest appearance in Fellow travelers?

It got cut. I did it in episode five. There’s a part where Hawk takes his brother-in-law to a mental hospital, and I was one of the mental hospital patients. Matt comes in, he looks, he even kind of makes eye contact with me, he has the scene, and he leaves. And we didn’t tell Matt that I was going to be in the scene, so we were all like, “Didn’t he notice?”

Tim, played by Jonathan Bailey, drinking milk in the series became a special moment. Did you think that would resonate when you were writing the series?

No. You never know with these things. When the idea comes up and you say, “What if he lets him drink milk and it runs down his chin?” – you sit in the writers’ room and you think this is either going to be really bad or really good. And it turned out really good. And it was Johnny who wanted to take the milk away from Hawk and said, “No, Tim is going to pour it all over himself.” He starts to take over, which he does, and he continues to take over in the sex that follows.

It is the 20th anniversary of your memoirs, Blue days, black nights. What goes through your mind when you think about writing this?

Matt has kindly written a nice introduction to the new edition, and I have written an epilogue to the new edition, which is about Fellow travelers regarding my experiences from this time of my life.

It’s a very distant part of my life. It was a moment when I almost destroyed myself with drugs and alcohol. It’s also the story of a tragic love affair. The things I do really well are things where people die tragically. I guess that’s my subject, that’s my genre. But I’m glad that I’m not that person anymore, that I’m not a slave to alcohol and drugs anymore. I mean, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have had long to live if I hadn’t quit when I did. But I love the young man it’s about – the book is about my relationship with that young man, and I still miss him.

Would this be something you would ever adapt for television or film?

If the right person was interested, I would consider it.

She received her first Emmy nomination in 2016 for HometownDoes this nomination feel different?

This nomination feels different in the sense that so much of my life is in the story of Fellow travelers. I brought things from my life into the show. The grief that Hawk feels in episode seven has a lot to do with how I reacted with drugs and alcohol to the grief of my friend’s death, which I write about in my memoir.

It’s a very different experience when you watch a TV show and you realise, “I actually said those things to some people.” Tim is very much concerned with how I feel about myself. I’m a very religious person; it’s weird to be an open gay rights activist and a Christian, but it’s not a contradiction depending on what version of Christianity you have. If it’s a loving, open-minded, all-embracing Christianity, it’s not a contradiction at all. That’s why Fellow travelers has a special meaning for me: I am there.

A version of this story first appeared in an August single issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.