Matt Bomer revealed in a new interview that he doesn't know if the critically acclaimed Showtime series Fellow Travelers would get made in 2025.
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When asked what his feelings regarding the Peabody Award-winning show Fellow Travelers — which also garnered Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for Bomer's performance as the closeted government worker Hawk Fuller throughout several decades of his life — the actor says that he's mostly feels grateful.
"I'm grateful that we were able to get the show made," Bomer tells Out in his digital cover interview for Mid-Century Modern. "I don't know that it would get made today, just because of certain circumstances in the industry. The way certain things are tightening up, you know?"
He continues, "I'm just so grateful that we got in there in that window and had great executives who let Ron [Nyswaner, Fellow Travelers showrunner] tell the story the way he wanted, and the interactions with folks. I was perfectly at peace with the work we did and however it was received. But the interactions with people who've seen it, and responded to it, and the stories that have been shared with me are really overwhelmingly moving. I'm really happy and grateful that folks responded to it the way they did."
Why does Matt Bomer think 'Fellow Travelers' couldn't get made in 2025?
Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer on 'Fellow Travelers.'Showtime
Some media companies have been making moves in recent years to cut back on LGBTQ+ content. Notably, there's been the cutting of a trans character's scenes discussing gender in the animated series Win or Lose, pulling a trans-centered episode of the cartoon Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, and giving notes to make the main female character of Inside Out 2 "come across as 'less gay.'"
Since Donald Trump was sworn in as president in January, he's also made several moves interpreted as censoring LGBTQ+ voices, history, inclusivity, and visibility. Notably, Trump took over the Kennedy Center — a bastion of cultural and creative arts — and people working for his administration have reportedly criticized LGBTQ+ programming at the venue.
"Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP," Trump wrote on social media. "The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation. For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!"
Trump's takeover led to the cancelation of a planned tour of Finn, a children's musical produced by the center about a young shark who "wants to let out his inner fish," (via Deadline), and the banning of shows written by gay actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein.
Bomer also reacted to the current administration's expulsion of DEI hires, which hauntingly mirrors the events of the Lavender Scare depicted in Fellow Travelers.
A theatrical production of 'Fellow Travelers' has been withdrawn from the Kennedy Center.
Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey on 'Fellow Travelers.'Showtime
Bomer's concerns are already being seen in real time. On Friday, March 28, Deadline reported that an opera based on the Fellow Travelers novel has been canceled from its run at the Kennedy Center.
The report reads, "The composer, lyricist, director and producer of Fellow Travelers, an opera based on Thomas Mallon's 2007 novel about the anti-gay lavender scare of the 1950s, have withdrawn the work from the 2025-26 season of the Washington National Opera at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., citing concern over Donald Trump’s takeover of the institution's leadership."
Is the LGBTQ+ community entering a New Lavender Scare era?
Matt Bomer on 'Fellow Travelers.'Showtime
The period known as "The Lavender Scare" took place starting in 1950 when Sen. Joseph McCarthy and lawyer Roy Cohn led the firing of hundreds to thousands of gay men and lesbians from their government jobs for allegations of homosexuality.
"It's really upsetting to have, well, had a real lived experience of that, and to now see it really creeping up on all of us again. It's really upsetting," Bomer reflects in his latest Out digital cover for Mid-Century Modern. "And I think the whole reason you want to be a part of something like Fellow Travelers, and the reason why art and what we do can have some import is that you want people to see where we've come from, so we don't go there again. So I really hope we can change course and get back to good."
Matt Bomer is happy to 'experience queer joy' starring in Hulu's new gay sitcom 'Mid-Century Modern.'
Matt Bomer, Nathan Lane, and Nathan Lee Graham on 'Mid-Century Modern.'Disney/Chris Haston
Bomer also discussed wanting to "experience queer joy on camera" in his latest Out interview.
"I'd done quite a few repressed characters back to back, in terms of the LGBTQ+ characters that I was playing," Bomer explains. "If you go all the way back to Doom Patrol and The Boys in the Band… And then, you get into Fellow Travelers and Maestro. I remember turning to my husband and saying, 'I need to do a comedy. I really need to do a comedy.'"
Bomer is currently starring in another gay-forward project, Mid-Century Modern, along with actors Nathan Lane and Nathan Lee Graham as three gay men who move into a house together in Palm Springs following the death of a mutual friend.
Mid-Century Modern is now streaming on Hulu.
Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey on 'Fellow Travelers.'Showtime
Matt Bomer on 'Fellow Travelers.'Showtime
Matt Bomer, Nathan Lane, and Nathan Lee Graham on 'Mid-Century Modern.'Disney/Chris Haston
