WATCH: Matt Bomer & Jonathan Bailey spark a forbidden romance in ‘Fellow Travelers’ first look

Have you ever worked at a job where you thought of yourself as the lone “gay employee” in an office of straight colleagues? But then, one day, the unthinkable happens… they hire a new gay.

They walk in the room and, almost instinctually, the two of you lock eyes. There’s an immediate sense that you’re being threatened—they’re trying to take your title as the “office gay!” But then that’s followed by feelings of excitement, of curiosity, of hope… this could be the start of something new!

Well, that’s the feeling so perfectly captured in the brand-new, all-too-brief trailer for Showtime’s highly anticipated new miniseries, Fellow Travelers.

Based on Thomas Mallon’s historical fiction novel of the same name, Fellow Travelers is the story of a decades-long relationship between two closeted gay government employees: Hawkins Fuller, a charming but private political staffer and former war hero, and Tim Laughlin, an optimistic recent college grad.

The Normal Heart‘s Matt Bomer and Bridgerton‘s Jonathan Bailey star as Hawkins and Tim, respectively. The teaser let’s us glimpse their first encounter: Casually walking toward one another in an office hallway when they’re eyes meet…

Suddenly, an electrifying montage of scenes rush by—fleeting glimpses of their whirlwind romance at warp-speed—before we snap back to the present. Not a word between them, the two keep on walking. But, somehow, they know this won’t be their last encounter. Far from it.

Adapted for television by Ron Nyswaner (My Policeman), Fellow Travelers opens in the ’50s at the height of McCarthyism—when government employees were fired if they were suspected to be gay—and then follows Hawkins and Tim’s intersecting lives through the queer liberation movement in the ’70s, and culminating in the ’80s during the AIDS epidemic.

Alongside Bomer and Bailey, the series also stars Allison Williams (Girls, M3GAN), Jelani Alladin (Tick, Tick… Boom!), Noah J. Ricketts (Summoning Sylvia), Linus Roache (Law & Order), Will Brill (The OA), and Chris Bauer (The Wire, True Blood) as McCarthy.

While no official release date has been announced yet, Fellow Travelers is set to debut on Showtime this fall, and will stream simultaneously via the Paramount+ app.

Watch the brief but thrilling first teaser for the miniseries below: