Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer combine to create one of this year’s most compelling pieces of television with Showtime’s “Fellow Travelers.” The limited series follows two men whose romance is intertwined across years, spanning wars, political events, and catastrophes.
Bomer takes the leading role while Bailey, listed here as a supporting performer, is more than his equal. The English actor turns his character, Tim, from a starry-eyed, naive lover, to a hardened man with maturity and wisdom. It’s the sort of arc actors dream of and Bailey makes full use of it, as critics have noted.
Ben Travers (Indie Wire) noted: “Bailey, meanwhile, is an exposed nerve. Tim loses his hero, his faith, and his companion — most more than once. The cold, hard world just keeps smacking him in the face, but the same starry-eyed hope that hurts Tim is also what saves him, which makes it all the more believable that he’d keep circling back to politics, to religion, and to Hawk, decade after decade. But Bailey doesn’t treat each cycle the same way. He matures Tim, hardens him, and approaches each familiar temptation with fresh eyes.”
Max Gas (The AV Club) stated: “Bailey, in a dramatic departure from his portrayal of the oldest brother on ‘Bridgerton,’ is able to play a different kind of romantic lead in ‘Fellow Travelers’ — someone who is more inexperienced, albeit just as consumed and infatuated with a prospective partner he knows he probably can’t have. But Bailey and the writers are careful not to portray Tim as a victim or someone in need of a consolation prize, giving him an opportunity to grow personally and professionally outside of his relationship with Hawk to the point that, as time goes on, he eventually becomes more of a mentor than a mentee to the one true love of his life.”
Joey Moser (Awards Daily) observed: “Bailey – with his floppy hair, thick, black glasses, and well-crafted appearance – exudes excitement and is conflicted between what he has been taught and what his heart and loins want. I can’t imagine how many Tim Laughlins were working in Washington D.C. during the rise of McCarthy’s reign, but he never lets go of that exuberance. In scenes from the ’80s, Bailey is almost unrecognizable with his stringier hair and worried expression. He will break your heart.”
Bailey has never been nominated for an Emmy before but that won’t stop him from securing a bid in the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor category. Plenty of first-timer Emmy contenders have been nominated in this category, including “Beef” stars Young Mazino and Joseph Lee, Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird”), “The White Lotus” trio Murray Bartlett, Steve Zahn, and Jake Lacy, and Will Poulter (“Dopesick”).
Plus, Bailey is one half of a two-hander here. He and Bomer go together well and we expect them to go together in the nominations, too. This happens a lot at the Emmys. Steven Yeun and Ali Wong both won for “Beef;” Bartlett and Kumail Nanjiani both picked up bids for “Welcome to Chippendales;” Lily James and Sebastian Stan were nominated for “Pam & Tommy;” Ben Whishaw and Hugh Grant both secured bids for “A Very English Scandal.” Emmy voters like duos like these and Bomer and Bailey are a brilliant one.
We also think that “Fellow Travelers” will be a big Emmys player in the TV Movie/Limited Series categories and will snag a number of bids including a lead actor nomination for Bomer, a Best Limited Series nomination, and plenty of below-the-line bids, too. Bailey could, simply enough, get swept along for the ride like plenty of other nominees in Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting actor nominees have done before, such as Mazino and Lee for “Beef,” Zahn and Lacy for “The White Lotus,” Seth Rogen for “Pam & Tommy,” Jovan Adepo for “Watchmen,” and Stanley Tucci for “Feud: Bette and Joan.”
Plus, he has actually already proven that awards voters love his role in “Fellow Travelers.” He won the Critics Choice TV Award Best TV Movie/Miniseries Supporting Actor in January, even triumphing over Emmy nominee Jesse Plemons (“Love & Death”).
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