Ben Mark Holzberg/SHOWTIME
Warning: This article contains spoilers from theFellow Travelersfinale, “Make It Easy.”
Ron Nyswanerwalks into a vacant office at the Toronto studio where hes filmingFellow Travelersin early November.
He seems very pleased with himself and for good reason.
Jonathan Bailey as Tim and Matt Bomer as Hawkins “Hawk” Fuller in ‘Fellow Travelers’.Credit:Ben Mark Holzberg/SHOWTIME
And not just some.
Lots of em, the showrunner tells EW, enthusiastically.
It is so large now that it can never be displayed in one place ever again.
Hawk (Matt Bomer) walks among the AIDS quilt with his daughter Kimberly (Brittany Raymond) in ‘Fellow Travelers’.Ben Mark Holzberg/SHOWTIME
Theres no space big enough.
So they send pieces.
Its the crowning achievement for a drama series that has been so entrenched incrucial moments of LGBTQ history.
Lucy (Allison Williams) visits with Tim (Jonathan Bailey) in the hospital in ‘Fellow Travelers’.Ben Mark Holzberg/SHOWTIME
People are forgetting about AIDS, theyre forgetting about the quilt, Nyswaner adds.
So [the foundation] felt this was a way to help keep it alive.
Honestly, it was probably for the best because I didn’t have time to overthink anything.
I was really responding in real time on camera.
The production recreated the National Mall in a field in Toronto.
He was surprised to then hear the offer to send real squares instead.
The gay God was looking out for me that day, he remarks.
It would be very confusing for them to see something they don’t recognize, Nyswaner acknowledges.
So the team created entirely new sections to put around Tim’s square.
The story is already happening.
It’s alive in you.
I think it’s such a beautiful, poetic ending to the show.
There are thousands and thousands and thousands more just as rich and interesting.
