It’s hard enough to recover from the fact that he will return for Bridgerton Season 4.
Not to mention, we only have months to prepare to see him as Fiyero in the film adaptation of Wicked. He’s everywhere.
And now Jonathan’s talking about how long and hard he thought about choosing the proper penis for his Fellow Travelers character, and it’s pretty silly.
On Thursday’s episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers, Jonathan revealed the prosthetic penis-picking process (say that five times fast) and what the costume department did with it on his final day of filming.
The three-time Emmy-nominated series Fellow Travelers follows the four-decade-long volatile romance of Hawkins Fuller (Matt Bomer) and Tim Laughlin (Jonathan) through significant world events like the Lavender Scare of the 1950s, Vietnam War protests in the ’60s, and the AIDS crisis of the ’80s.
Tim experiences many changes throughout the years, including his hair, mustaches, and glasses, but Jonathan reveals, “There’s one thing that remained the same throughout.”
Host Seth Meyers asked, “Did you have a hand in the decision-making?” referring to the prosthetic private part, and Jonathan responded, “Um, just one hand.”
Jonathan explained, “When we started, obviously, you wear a protective layer, obviously, to protect yourself and so it’s not awkward. But, for the nature of the show, you want to choose something that maybe reflects what’s actually going on.”
Seth then revealed a censored photo of blurred-out prosthetic penises from Jonathan’s time on set. “They’ve all got their different personalities,” he said. “When you’re approaching character, you think emotionally, cerebrally, and then you have to really make a big choice.”
Seth then asked, “Is that what you did? You made the big choice?” Jonathan quickly responded, “No, no, no! I think it’s only fair—I believe in representation for everyone.”
Then, just as Seth attempted to show another photo, Jonathan quickly covered it up. “No!” He shouted, grabbing a different photo. “Wait, hang on, hang on. I want to show you this one first.”
Jonathan first acknowledged the “loads of people that keep you going” on a production like the makeup and costume departments. “On the last day, Beth, my amazing wardrobe assistant, cheered me up.” He then revealed a photo of the nude protective layer with googly eyes and Tim’s prosthetic penis for the nose.
For the next photo, Jonathan revealed, “I got home, and I unpacked my suitcase to find” the same silly googly-eyed prosthetic penis face in his luggage.
In Fellow Travelers, all the sex scenes between Tim and Hawk were prepared with care by episodic bosses, producers, and intimacy coordinators. In an Entertainment Weekly interview with the series producer Robbie Rogers, he explained, “When you’re with Tim and Hawk in Tim’s apartment, you really feel the intimacy and what it’s like between two men before and after having sex.”
He added, “Some people might feel awkward, but I feel like in our story it feels quite authentic and real.”
Well, now that Jonathan has revealed all the dirty behind-the-scenes details, we at least know that one major component wasn’t “real,” but it definitely got the job done.
Fellow Travelers is available to stream on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME.
Watch the late-night segment with Jonathan here.
