More Hotties from Upcoming Queer Films

Frank J. Avella READ TIME: 19 MIN.

Jonathan Bailey in 'Wicked: For Good'

Jonathan Bailey in "Wicked"
Source: Universal

We may have to wait until November for "Wicked: For Good" and to see everyone's favorite sexually-flexible Prince Fiyero (and his hot pants), but his portrayer, yummy Jonathan Bailey, will also star in Gareth Edwards' "Jurassic World Rebirth" opposite Scarlett Johansson and hotties Ed Skrein and Rupert Friend, opening July 2, 2025. And he will be a part of the fourth season of "Bridgerton."

The openly gay thesp recently received a surprise SAG nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role. Along with his shared "Wicked" cast nomination and one for the "Bridgerton" ensemble in 2021, that brings his total to three.

Onscreen, Bailey has been featured in "St. Trinian" (2007), "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (2007), "Testament of Youth" (2014), and "The Young Messiah" (2016).

His TV credits include major roles in "Broadchurch," opposite Olivia Colman, Phoebe Waller-Bridge's "Crashing," "Bridgerton," of course, and the groundbreaking Showtime miniseries "Fellow Travelers," which brought him his first Emmy nomination. His explicit sex scenes with Matt Bomer in that limited series were off-the-charts sizzling!


Bailey's career began onstage as a child actor in London in "A Christmas Carol" and then as Gavroche in "Les Misérables." His most recent stage credits include the celebrated revival of Sondheim's "Company," opposite Patti LuPone on the West End, for which he received an Olivier Award, as well as starring in Mike Bartlett's play "Cock." He is currently playing "Richard II" at the Bridge Theatre in London. https://bridgetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/richard-ii/

"Wicked: For Good" opens in theaters November 21, 2025

Ben Whishaw in 'Peter Hujar's Day'

Ben Whishaw attends the "Black Doves" Season One World Premiere at the BFI Southbank on December 03, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Filmmaker Ira Sachs has created numerous queer-inspired narrative features including "Passages," "Keep the Lights On," and "Love is Strange." In his latest work, "Peter Hujar's Day," he re-creates a day in the life of the titular American photographer, who died of AIDS in 1987. The filmmaker has taken a recently-discovered 1974 conversation between Hujar and his friend Linda Rosenkrantz, and crafted an original cinematic portrait. Ben Whishaw is Hujar, and Rebecca Hall is Rosenkrantz.

Whishaw is another out English actor who manages to seamlessly switch from stage to screen to TV roles, appearing in many LGBTQ+-themed projects in the process and picking up 3 BAFTAs, two Emmys, and a Golden Globe.

His career began onstage when he was part of the Big Spirit Youth Theatre. He went on to major West End credits, including the eponymous "Hamlet" (2004) at the Old Vic, Mike Bartlett's "Cock" (2009) at the Royal Court, Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" (2016) on Broadway at the Walter Kerr, and, last year, in Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

His TV credits include "The Hour," "London Spy," "Queers," "A Very English Scandal," "This is Going to Hurt," and Netflix's "Black Doves," opposite Keira Knightley. His many films include "Layer Cake" (2004), "Stoned" (2004), "I'm Not There" (2007), "Brideshead Revisited" (2008), "The Tempest"(2010), "Skyfall" (2012), "Lilting" (2014), "The Lobster" (2015), "The Danish Girl" (2014), "Mary Poppins Returns" (2018), "Surge" (2020), "Women Talking" (2022), and "Passages" (2023), where he appeared in one of the most explicit gay sex scenes ever filmed for an indie, opposite Franz Rogowski and directed by Sachs.


Whishaw is never one to shy away from nudity or intimate same-sex scenes, as is apparent in many of his film and TV projects – check out "Black Doves" and "Passages" as stimulating starters!

"Peter Hujar's Day" world premieres on January 27, 2025, at the Sundance Film Festival.

Magnus Juhl Andersen in 'Sauna'

First-time feature writer-director Mathias Broe has crafted a sensual, yet complex, love story centering on Johan (tantalizing newcomer Magnus Juhl Andersen), who works in a sauna and lives the life of casual hook-ups and parties until he meets William (Nina Rask), a transgender man, and finds himself falling for him. But together they must navigate their intense differences and tricky new terrain.

Danish actor Magnus Juhl Andersen is a 2020 graduate of The Danish National School of Performing Arts. He has appeared in a number of shorts and had small roles on the big and small screens, including "Into the Darkness" and the sequel "Out of the Darkness," as well as recurring parts in the Netflix series "Chosen" and the Danish drama "Carmen Curlers."


"Sauna" represents his lead debut. It's an impressive breakout performance.

"Sauna" screens in competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Distribution yet to be announced.

Fionn O'Shea & Robert Aramayo & Louis Hofmann in 'Lilies Not for Me'

A still from "Lilies Not For Me'

Will Seefried's first feature, "Lilies Not For Me," screened at NewFest this past year and proved quite disturbing, yet engaging, because of its solid cast. Based on historical events, and set shortly after WWI, the film explores the horrific practices that were used to "cure" male homosexuals.

The indie centers on gay novelist Owen (Fionn O'Shea), who lives in a remote cottage and seems fine with his same-sex attraction. His schoolmate crush Philip (Robert Aramayo) convinces him that they're afflicted, but can be cured via a terrible new medical procedure. Complicating matters is the arrival of Charlie (Louis Hofmann), a sexy married man who happens to unashamedly love men. The non-linear narrative then takes a truly dark turn.


Fionn O'Shea attends the Saint Laurent SS24 menswear collection presentation at Neue Nationalgalerie on June 12, 2023 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sebastian Reuter/Getty Images)

Irish actor Fionn O'Shea made his film debut in the 2007 Oscar-nominated live action short, "New Boy." He has played gay characters onscreen several times before, in "Handsome Devil," opposite Nicholas Galitzine and Andrew Scott, and "Dating Amber," about two closeted teens pretending to be a het couple. His TV credits include "Normal People," "Masters of the Air," and the upcoming "House of Guinness" with James Norton and Louis Partridge. While he's spoken out about his support for the LGBTQ+ community, he hasn't mentioned whether he includes himself in said community.


UK born Robert Aramayo is best known for his role as Eddard Stark in the sixth and seventh seasons of HBO's "Game of Thrones." He can currently be seen as Elrond in the Prime series "The Lord Of the Rings: The Rings of Power." He played a gay character in psychological thriller TV series "Behind Her Eyes." His film credits include "Nocturnal Animals" (2016), "Eternal Beauty" (2019), and "Stray Dolls" (2020), where he briefly showed his buns.


Actor Louis Hofmann poses at the "Der Passfälscher" photocall during the 72nd Berlinale International Film Festival Berlin at Grand Hyatt Hotel on February 13, 2022 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sebastian Reuter/Getty Images)

Blond German twink Louis Hofmann first came to international attention in 2015 in Martin Zandvliet's Oscar-nominated foreign-language feature "Land of Mine." In 2016 he starred in Jakob M. Erwa's gay-themed "Center of My World," appearing naked in many scenes. Ralph Fiennes cast him as Rudolph Nureyev's secret lover, Teja Kremke, in his feature, "The White Crow," in 2018, where he also appeared nude. His other film credits incllude "Red Sparrow" and "The Forger." Recent streaming gigs include starring in "All the Light We Cannot See," as well as episodes of "Masters of the Air" and "Ripley."

The thesp has remained mum about his personal life.

"Lilies Not for Me" has been acquired by Gravitas Ventures for a 2025 release.

Nik Dodani & Brandon Flynn in 'The Parenting'

Brandon Flynn and Nik Dodani on the set of "The Parenting"

A young gay couple, Rohan and Josh (Nick Dodani and Brandon Flynn, respectively), decide to host a weekend getaway with their families in a country house in the comedy-horror flick "The Parenting," directed by Craig Johnson ("The Skeleton Twins," "Alex Strangelove"). But they soon discover a 400-year-old evil entity is also present in the rental. The film co-stars Brian Cox, Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, Dean Norris, and Parker Posey.


Nik Dodani attends Charlize Theron's Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP) Block Party at Universal Studios Backlot on July 13, 2024 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Presley Ann/Getty Images for CTAOP)

Openly gay stand-up comic/actor Nik Dodani began his acting career in the Phoenix-area community theater. His TV credits include "Atypical," the 2018 reboot of "Murphy Brown," and "Trinkets." Onscreen, he's appeared in "Alex Strangelove" (2018), "Dear Evan Hansen" (2021), and last year's mega-hit sequel, "Twisters." Dodani is of Indian descent.


Out thesp Brandon Flynn came to prominence as Justin Foley in the Netflix series "13 Reasons Why." He had recurring parts in season three of HBO's "True Detective," as well as Ryan Murphy's "Ratched," on Netflix. This past year he appeared in the Lincoln assassination thriller "Manhunt" on Apple TV+. Flynn's films include "Looks That Kill" (2020), the remake of "Hellraiser" (2022), and "The Senior" (2023).

Flynn is currently playing Marlon Brando opposite Robin Lord Taylor's Tennessee Williams in Gregg Ostrin's play "Kowalski" at the Duke on 42nd Street Theater in NYC. https://www.kowalskionstage.com

HBO Max will release/stream "The Parenting" in 2025.

Matthew Scott Montgomery & Grant Jordan in 'Howdy, Neighbor!'

A still from "Howdy, Neighbor!"

Actor/writer Matthew Scott Montgomery brings us "Howdy, Neighbor!," which he calls "a modern-day stalker film that's campy, sexy, sometimes silly, and extremely scary. It has a colorful cast of queer characters who support one another – there's even a beautiful interracial love story amidst the horror. Montgomery plays former child actor Benjamin Caldwell, who is recognized by his new neighbor, Chase Mitchell (Grant Jordan), who, at first, is a too-eager fan, but then becomes something more sinister.


Matthew Scott Montgomery has acted in many LGBTQ+-themed films, including "Socket" (2007), "Pornography: A Thriller" (2009), "Redwoods" (2009), "Role/Play" (2010), "Flight of the Cardinal" (2010), and "Southern Baptists Sissies" (2013), appearing naked in all but the last one. He's penned several shorts and has written for TV. Montgomery's career began onstage in Del Shore's play "Yellow" in Los Angeles.


Gay hottie Grant Jordan has appeared in numerous stage shows and in the films "Miss Stevens" (2016), "August Falls" (2017), and the gay-themed "The Male Gaze: First Kiss" (in the "Walk with Me" segment), as well as on a number of TV shows, including "Modern Family," "Runaways," and "NCIS: Los Angeles."

"Howdy, Neighbor!" marks his first major screen role.

Jeremy Irvine & Nathan Stewart-Jarrett & Rupert Everett in 'The Light Fantastic'


From BAFTA-winning director Chris Cottam, and inspired by a true story, "The Light Fantastic" follows the journey of Jason (Jeremy Irvine), a gay firefighter who dreams of becoming a professional ballroom dancer. In the film, which is set in the British seaside town of Blackpool, Jason must deal with the rigid traditions of the ballroom world while trying to please his ultra-traditional instructor, Reynolds (Rupert Everett). Nathan Stewart-Jarrett co-stars.


Jeremy Irvine attends the QIPCO British Champions Day 2024 at Ascot Racecourse on October 19, 2024 in Ascot, England. (Photo by Antony Jones/Getty Images for British Champions Series)

British-born Jeremy Irvine first came to International attention as the young boy in Steven Spielberg's "War Horse," and has appeared on stage, screen, and TV in many projects since. He portrayed an Indiana gay boy coming to NYC for the first time in the divisive film "Stonewall" in 2015. He played the closeted gay actor/singer Ivor Novello, with a dash of nasty, in Terence Davies' "Benediction" in 2021. And he won gay hearts singing to Lily James and dancing with the entire cast in "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" in 2018.

He kept mum about his private life, teasing us for as long as possible, until he married Jodie Spencer this past year.

Irvine has also teased audiences shirtless and in tight undies, but has not gone full monty or booty. Yet.


Out British thesp Nathan Stewart-Jarrett is coming off his dynamic performance in last year's queer thriller "Femme," opposite George MacKay. He got his start on the UK stage in a number of ensemble plays, including "The History Boys," and made his Broadway debut as Belize in the recent revival of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" in 2018. Onscreen, he's been seen in "Don Hemingway" (2013), "Vita and Virginia" (2018), and the recent "Candyman" remake (2021). TV credits include main roles in "Generation," "Culprits," and the Netflix hit "Black Doves." He's been seen in a number of shed-to-the-skin gay love scenes in movies and TV.


Gorgeous, witty, and brooding English actor Rupert Everett came out in 1989, when it was still potential career suicide to do so – especially for a hot young up and comer. Yet, he's still working and delivering great performances, showing us that you can still be sexy at 65!

The actor shot to stardom when he appeared in Julian Mitchell's gay-themed play "Another Country," and was then cast in the film adaptation. He's periodically done some stage work ("Blithe Spirit" in 2009 and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in 2020, both on Broadway), as well as quite a bit of television ("Les Liaisons dangereuses" with Catherine Deneuve, "Parade's End," "Black Mirror," and "Emily in Paris," to name a few.

But it's his film resume that is off the charts. He's gone nude in "The Comfort of Strangers" (1990), "Cemetery Man" (1994), and "The Happy Prince" (2018) – which he also directed, making sure there were plenty of sexy naked men surrounding him. Other major movie roles include "Dance with a Stranger" (1985), Robert Altman's Prêt-à-Porter" (1994), "The Madness of King George" (1994), "My Best Friend's Wedding" (1997; Golden Globe nomination), "Shakespeare in Love" (1998), "An Ideal Husband" (1999; Golden Globe nomination), "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1999), "Stage Beauty" (2004), "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" (2016), and "My Policeman" (2022).

He's managed to play both straight and gay roles throughout his illustrious career.

"The Light Fantastic" should see a U.S. release later this year.


by Frank J. Avella

Frank J. Avella is a proud EDGE and Awards Daily contributor. He serves as the GALECA Industry Liaison and is a Member of the New York Film Critics Online. His award-winning short film, FIG JAM, has shown in Festivals worldwide (figjamfilm.com). Frank's screenplays have won numerous awards in 17 countries. Recently produced plays include LURED & VATICAL FALLS, both O'Neill semifinalists. He is currently working on a highly personal project, FROCI, about the queer Italian/Italian-American experience. He is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. https://filmfreeway.com/FrankAvella https://muckrack.com/fjaklute

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