Jelani Alladin (The Walking Dead: World Beyond), Noah J. Ricketts (American Gods) and Linus Roache (Batman Begins, Homeland) have joined the lead cast of new limited series Fellow Travelers, starring Matt Bomer, Jonathan Bailey and Allison Williams. Fellow Travelers is co-produced by Fremantle with Showtime.
Alladin will play Marcus Hooks, who comes from a D.C.-based middle-class family and is a journalist covering the Senate beat while confronting the racism he encounters on a daily basis. Ricketts will play Frankie Hines, a drag performer who works in the Cozy Corner, a favorite underground gay nightspot of Hawk (Bomer) and Marcus (Aladdin). Roach will play Senator Wesley Smith, a career politician and family man who is like a father to Hawk.
Based on the novel by Thomas Mallon, Fellow Travelers is an epic love story and political thriller, chronicling the volatile romance of two very different men who meet in the shadow of McCarthy-era Washington. Bomer will play handsome, charismatic Hawkins Fuller, who maintains a financially rewarding, behind-the scenes career in politics. Hawkins avoids emotional entanglements – until he meets Tim Laughlin (Bailey), a young man brimming with idealism and religious faith. They begin a romance just as Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn declare war on “subversives and sexual deviants,” initiating one of the darkest periods in 20th-century American history. Over the course of four decades, Hawk and Tim 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.
The eight-episode limited series is created by Oscar® nominee Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia, Homeland). Bomer and Nyswaner will executive produce with Robbie Rogers (All American, My Policeman). Daniel Minahan (Halston, American Crime Story: Versace) will executive produce and direct the first two episodes. Co-produced by Fremantle with Showtime, Fellow Travelers will go into production later this month in Toronto.
Alladin most recently co-starred in The Walking Dead: World Beyond while also appearing on Law & Order: SVU as well as FBI. On stage he was last seen in the title role of Public Work’s Musical Adaptation of Disney’s Hercules. He made his Broadway debut starring as Kristoff in Disney’s Frozen, earning him a Drama Desk nomination for Best Leading Actor and a Drama League nomination for Distinguished Performance. He recently completed filming the independent feature Beneath the Fold as well as co-starring in the Billy Porter’s production of The Life.
Ricketts was most recently seen in Stephen Brackett’s To My Girls at Second Stage and will next be seen in the independent feature Summoning Sylvia. Other credits include American Gods, High Fidelity, Broadway’s Frozen and Beautiful.
Roache was recently seen in in Law & Order, the Showtime critically-acclaimed series Homeland as well as Vikings. On stage he was last seen in Richard II and Coriolanus at London’s Almeida Theatre and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He will next be seen co-starring in Greg Berlanti’s feature film My Policeman.
