Jonathan Bailey Wins Critics Choice Award For Fellow Travelers

British actor Jonathan Bailey won the Critics Choice Award for ‘Best Supporting Actor In A Limited Series Or Movie Made For Television’ for his work on Fellow Travelers.

In Fellow Travelers, Bailey and Matt Bomer (Magic Mike) play a gay couple living in 1950s Washington DC. The pair start a romance amidst the backdrop of Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare witchhunt for “subversives and sexual deviants.”

The series follows the pair as they cross paths through “the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s, the drug-fueled disco hedonism of the 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, while facing obstacles in the world and in themselves.”

‘LGBTQ+ People Have Always Existed’

During his award acceptance speech Bailey said, “For many [Fellow Travelers] is an education but for us, it’s a vital truth. This series is a much-needed reminder that LGBTQ+ people have always existed. Mostly hidden. They have always been fighting for an easier life for the generations that follow. So I thank those who came before me. You created a world where I can stand here today and win an award for telling their story.

“The character I play, Tim, I’ll carry him forever. His love story with Hawk teaches us to tell the special people in our lives we love them before it’s too late.

“So, my special friends and family, I love you very much. I love you my 93-year-old nana who took me to the theatre when I was five and gave me a vocation, and who watched Fellow Travelers to the climax! I’m so proud of you and I’m bringing this trophy back to you and a cup of tea on Tuesday.”

Concluding his speech, Bailey dedicated the award, “To all the people who lost their lives in the 80s and 90s, and to every LGBTQ+ person living in a bigoted community, which still surrounds us, this is for you.”

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Bailey’s co-star, Bomer was nominated for the Critics Choice Award for ‘Best Actor’, however it ended up being awarded to Steven Yeun for the series Beef.

Other Queer films, television series, and actors also took home awards. 

American singer-songwriter Janelle Monae was presented with the SeeHer Award. The SeeHer Award is awarded to actors who challenge gender sterotypes and advocate for equality.

Actor Niecy Nash won the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series for her role in Dahmer.

Queer film and television shows such as Tar, Hacks, Abbott Elementary, The Whale, Euphoria, and Everything Everywhere All At Once were also recognised.

‘Most Erotic Depictions’ Of Gay Sex

In September, it was revealed that Fellow Travelers would include the “most erotic depictions” of gay sex filmed for a TV network.

On November 21, during an interview on The Jess Cagle Show, Bailey explained why the depictions of sex are vital to the story.

“Historically, you know gay men, I think, have had a really bad time of being written off as being animalistic in the way that they meet and have sex with each other, but I’m hoping the show will allow people to understand that these cottaging and the toilet, they’re the only places that they could go to meet these people.” 

Bailey continued, “Actually everyone should be able to have sex with the people that they want to, obviously within consent, and so that to me feels like why it’s so important to then give the audience an experience which is similar to what Skippy [Bailey’s character] experiences, which is this overwhelming, shocking, hopefully euphoric explosion. That’s why I think it’s a critical exploration.”

The eight-episode historical fiction miniseries was created by Oscar nominee Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia), and adapted from the novel of the same name by Thomas Mallon.

Nyswaner told EW, “Our goal was to really tell the story from an LGBTQIA perspective of what happened in the ’50s and then to take it past the ’50s.”

Speaking about the portrayal of Queer characters in the media, in comparison to their portrayal in Fellow Travelers, Nyswaner said, “I find sometimes that gay characters are made too clean.” 

“They’re made too noble. I’m just tired of that. Hawkins Fuller [Bomer] certainly is a very complicated, sometimes unlikeable antihero. I’d marry him in a second and then regret it probably in a few days, but there’s something fascinating about watching someone who is in charge and you don’t like him, but you kind of enjoy it. I think that helps us get away with a lot.”

Nyswaner went on to say, “[Bailey’s] version of Tim is so vulnerable. You just don’t know if you want Tim to get away from [Hawk] or stay with him and change him.”

The series also stars Allison Williams (Get Out), Jelani Alladin (Tick, Tick… Boom!), Linus Roache (My Policeman), Will Brill (The OA), Chris Bauer (Sully), Christine Horne (Degrassi: Next Class).

Fellow Travelers is available to stream on Paramount+ in Australia