Owen Thiele has a lot more riding on “Adults” this time around. The FX comedy returned for its second season Aug. 27 with an audience now invested in its messy, co-dependent group of twentysomethings. Thiele, who plays Anton, says the cast spent much of the wait for renewal worried the show might not come back at all.
It can be hard to wrangle even the closest friends to a weeknight event, especially only one day after a booze-heavy premiere the previous night. But Thiele is unquestionably popular. Bowen Yang, Molly Gordon and Mary Beth Barone were just a few of his bold-faced friends who made their way to the West Village for a multi-course Italian meal and many, many dirty martinis.
Instagram also used the dinner to spotlight Instants, its newer feature for sending spontaneous photos through DMs, while Thiele is set to share behind-the-scenes content from the event on the platform’s @notfit4main account. One reason for Thiele’s bursting-at-the-seams friend group is his growing list of Imdb credits. The 29 year-old also appears in Prime Video’s “Overcompensating,” where his character George represents a very different kind of queer friendship than Anton does, and he’s headed to the big screen in “Peaked,” Molly Gordon’s upcoming comedy, alongside Connor Storrie and Dua Lipa.
He’s also writing “Off Color,” a semi-autobiographical Amazon comedy inspired by his experience growing up Black and gay in a white Jewish family. The project pulls from his fascinating family history: Thiele is the son of music producer Bob Thiele Jr. and the grandson of iconic record producer Bob Thiele (“What a Wonderful World,” which Thiele co-wrote for Louis Armstrong, might ring a bell.) Susie Essman, known for her iconic role in “Curb Your Enthiusiasm,” is set to play Owen’s mother. Below, Thiele talks to Variety about portraying queer friendship on screen, being a “nepo grandchild” and working with Connor Storrie and Dua Lipa: Well, a lot happened.
When I got those scripts, I was immediately reading. I was hoping that the kiss was addressed and it is but it’s addressed in a way that I think people wouldn’t expect. It’s sort of like me in a relationship.
A lot of people would say I can’t act because of that. But the writers did such a brilliant job crafting this season because it doesn’t feel at all expected, and there are so many twists and turns that when I was filming it, I was like, “What? This is happening?” I couldn’t believe it.
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