Matt Bomer Finally Names His Favourite Fellow Travelers Sex Scene With Jonathan Bailey
Matt Bomer has finally answered the question every Fellow Travelers fan has been asking. His favourite sex scene with Jonathan Bailey is the one from episode one, the early encounter where Bailey’s Tim Laughlin first submits to Bomer’s Hawk Fuller.
The Showtime limited series is still pulling fresh attention more than a year after it aired, with clips of Bomer and Bailey routinely clocking millions of views on TikTok and X. So when Bomer sat down with Out Magazine this week to talk about his new Hulu sitcom Mid-Century Modern, the conversation naturally swung back to the show that broke gay TV open.
The Fellow Travelers sex scene Matt Bomer loved most
“I’m so grateful we were able to make that show,” Bomer told Out. “I honestly don’t know if it’d get made today. The business has changed so much in the last year.”
He picked the first scene they shot for a very specific reason. It was the moment he and Bailey worked out how the rest of the series would feel.
“The first scene we did was the first time we figured out how we were going to do these sex scenes and how Johnny and I were going to collaborate. It set the template for everything else that happened on the show,” Bomer said.
For anyone who has seen Fellow Travelers, that scene needs no introduction. It’s the encounter between a young, devout Tim and the older, magnetic Hawk that pulls them into the affair stretching across three decades, McCarthyism, Vietnam, and the AIDS crisis. It’s also the scene that put the show on every gay group chat in the country.
Why Matt Bomer says Fellow Travelers couldn’t be made today
Bomer’s worry that the series wouldn’t get a green light in 2026 isn’t paranoia. Plenty of queer creatives have flagged a noticeable cooling on bold, sexually frank gay storytelling as studios chase safer bets. Fellow Travelers, which earned Bomer his first Emmy nomination for lead actor in a limited series in 2024, looks more like an outlier with every passing month.
Matt Bomer trades repression for queer joy in Mid-Century Modern
While Hawk Fuller had Bomer playing repression with a clenched jaw, his new role lets him exhale. He plays Jerry on Mid-Century Modern, a himbo flight attendant raised Mormon, who moves into a Palm Springs mansion with two best friends after a funeral brings them together.
“I need to laugh right now and explore queer joy,” Bomer said. “He’s a flight attendant, but he also comes from a Mormon background. Family has always been very important to him.”
The Golden Girls comparison fans will love
Co-creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan (yes, the Will & Grace duo) cast Nathan Lane and Nathan Lee Graham alongside Bomer, and Lane describes the show in terms gay viewers will recognise on contact.
“We’re a spiritual sister to The Golden Girls,” Lane said. “I suggest that perhaps this would be a great way to spend the rest of our lives, and invite them to move in with me and my mother. Hilarity ensues.”
Where to watch Fellow Travelers and Mid-Century Modern
Mid-Century Modern is streaming now on Hulu in the US, with Australian availability via Disney+. Fellow Travelers remains on Paramount+ for anyone who wants a rewatch.
