Thomas Doherty is seen at the film set of the ‘Gossip Girl’ TV Series on 5 April 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
Gossip Girl star Thomas Doherty has revealed that he never kissed a man before playing a pansexual character on the HBO Max reboot.
Doherty plays Max Wolfe, a pansexual teen who is seemingly in a love triangle in two other characters in the series. The Scottish actor opened up to Variety about what it was like to play an openly pansexual character and locking lips with another man for the first time.
He said portraying a queer character in Gossip Girl was “definitely interesting”, and it even made him “question” how he was raised.
“Obviously my character, Max, is pansexual and for me, it’s always amazing when you play a part to see what you can kind of draw from that and what you can compare it with in your own life, your own beliefs,” Doherty explained.
He continued: “And it definitely did make me question how I was brought up and have been conditioned to think in terms of gender and gender identity and sexual preferences stuff.
“That kind of threw that all up in the air and it was kind of very liberating. It’s been an amazing experience for me, definitely.”
Fans have been excited for the Gossip Girl reboot since it was first announced in 2019. The revival takes place almost a decade after the conclusion of the original series. The show follows as titular character Gossip Girl – voiced by Kristen Bell – watches and reports on the scandals associated with a new cast of teens at the elite school Constance Billard.
Gossip Girl fans were all aflutter after the first trailer for the series dropped and introduced the world to a plethora of queer characters. In the teaser, Doherty’s character can be seen passionately kissing another character, Akeno “Aki” Menzies (played by Evan Mock).
Later in the trailer, Max and Aki can be seen staring at each other as they stand shirtless in someone’s house.
The host of LGBT+ characters is a welcomed addition to the Gossip Girl universe. Many fans even joked that they would be watching the new series just because of Max and Aki.
The series premiered Thursday (8 July) on HBO Max.