We may have finally accepted that Fellow Travelers won’t continue as an anthology hopping across decades and doomed queer love stories (a loss we’ll never fully recover from), but Matt Bomer fans are still getting something nearly as good.
The out heartthrob is officially reuniting with Fellow Travelers executive producer Robbie Rogers and director Daniel Minahan for a new Hulu drama titled Foster Dade and yes, it sounds exactly as scandalous as we’d hoped.
What Is Foster Dade About?
The series is based on Nash Jenkins’ 2023 debut novel, Foster Dade Explores the Cosmos, and is being pitched as a:
“Sophisticated mystery set at an East Coast boarding school exploring privilege, scandal, sexuality, and masculinity amid the rise of social media, millennial anxiety, and pharmaceuticals.”
In other words: rich kids behaving badly, identity crises, obsession, and secrets that refuse to stay buried. Our favorite genre.
Who Is Matt Bomer Playing?
No, Bomer is not playing a boarding school student (as tempting as the fantasy may be). Instead, the 48-year-old actor will portray Alex Tierney, the school’s resident swoony literature teacher.
Deadline describes him as:
“The kind of literature teacher who makes you believe books can change your life brilliant, eccentric, and magnetic.”
Naturally, there’s a catch.
His “intensity draws people in, blurring the line between mentorship and intimacy,” which places him squarely at the center of the Foster Dade scandal. Because of course it does.
The Two-Timeline Mystery Explained
The story unfolds across two timelines: 2008 and the present day.
In the past, Foster Dade is a lonely, whip-smart transfer student at the elite Kennedy boarding school in New Jersey. Desperate to belong and eager to reinvent himself, he begins selling academic and athletic performance enhancers to his classmates a scheme that spirals disastrously and ultimately leads to tragedy and expulsion.
In the present day, a new student arrives at Kennedy and moves into Foster’s former dorm room. Intrigued by the rumors that still haunt the campus, he begins investigating what really happened back in ’08 reading Foster’s old blog posts and interviewing former students.
The twist? This student acts as an unreliable narrator, raising questions about memory, mythmaking, and obsession and how the past gets rewritten over time.
The Cast: Rising Stars & Familiar Faces
The titular Foster Dade will be played by Jack Alldridge, currently appearing in Netflix’s historical miniseries Death by Lightning.
The supporting cast includes:
- Wyatt Aubrey (No Good Deed)
- Joaquin Consuelos & Olivia Campos-Tarantino as privileged classmates
- Sam Trammell (True Blood) & Heather Burns (Miss Congeniality) as Foster’s parents
- Vinny Chhibber (Big Sky) as a journalist digging into the case
- Chloe East (Genera+ion) and Cameron Mann (Eddington) as Annabeth Whittaker and Jack Albright
Those last two characters are particularly intriguing: members of the school’s “In Crowd” who pull Foster into their orbit.
Is There Queer Drama? Oh, Almost Certainly
Reviews of the novel frequently mention a romantic love triangle, friendships fueled by jealousy, and obsession masquerading as affection. It’s strongly suggested that Foster may be drawn to both Annabeth and Jack a dynamic that would put sexuality and desire front and center.
And if Foster is queer? Well, it’s hard not to speculate how Matt Bomer’s charismatic, complicated teacher factors into the emotional mess.
We’re just saying: history suggests things won’t stay neat.
Think Gossip Girl Meets The Secret History
Tonally, Foster Dade sounds like:
- Gossip Girl–level privilege and scandal
- Cruel Intentions–style manipulation
- A dark boarding-school mystery in the vein of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History
Which is to say: sign us up immediately.
When Is It Coming Out?
The pilot is penned by Bash Doran (Beef) and Greg Berlanti yes, that Greg Berlanti, who also happens to be Robbie Rogers’ husband and filming is reportedly underway for Hulu.
No release date yet, but we’ll be watching closely. Preferably for:
- Plot updates
- Casting news
- Or, ideally, set photos of Matt Bomer dressed like a devastatingly hot academic
It may not be more Fellow Travelers, but seeing Matt Bomer reunite with that creative team is more than enough to keep us invested. Now all that’s left is for Hulu to make one phone call…
Jonathan Bailey, you busy? 👀