Why Red, White & Royal Blue's Nicholas Galitzine Feels 'Guilt' Over Gay Roles

Rising star Nicholas Galitzine has starred in a handful of projects where he plays a queer character — and because he's not queer in real life, he said he does have complicated feelings about playing characters with a different sexual identity.

In a feature in GQ Magazine, Galitzine — known for "Red, White & Royal Blue," "Mary & George," and the recent streaming hit "The Idea of You" — addressed the fact that he worries his fans assume he's exactly the same as every character he plays. Despite saying he's not any of his roles, interviewer Xuanlin Tham pointed out that it's likely that people "conflate" him with them, and Galitzine agreed that it's definitely happened.

"I think I have," Galitzine said. "I identify as a straight man, but I have been a part of some incredible queer stories. I felt a sense of uncertainty sometimes about whether I'm taking up someone's space, and perhaps guilt. At the same time, I see those characters as not solely their sexuality."

Galitzine also seems incredibly interested in portraying modern, evolved men and challenging the idea of "masculinity" as we know it. "I was a very scared young man," Galitzine said earlier in the interview, saying that he felt "trapped" in terms of how he could portray his own personal masculinity. "And I think a lot of men are really scared. I think they're scared of their own mortality. I think they're scared of being found out. There's this notion in masculinity that you have to be in control and certain of everything."

As it happens, news broke recently that one of Nicholas Galitzine's most popular films — and one in which he, notably, plays a queer character — is getting an unexpected sequel. "Red, White & Royal Blue," which released on Amazon Prime in the summer of 2023, stars Galitzine as Prince Henry, a fictional British royal (and the younger of two brothers, meaning he's not the direct heir to the throne), who falls in love with the First Son of the United States, Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez). Obviously, chaos ensues from there as the two try and navigate a relationship while considering the political ramifications of it all, made all the more complicated by the fact that Henry hasn't come out to his family — or his country — yet.

According to a report in Deadline, both Zakhar Perez and Galitzine will return for a second "Red, White & Royal Blue" film, and Casey McQuiston, who wrote the novel upon which the first film is based, will write the script alongside director Matthew López (also returning). This isn't totally surprising, as the first film was enormously successful for Amazon, but fans of McQuiston's original novel are definitely curious about the sequel's storyline, since the book itself doesn't have a standalone sequel (just a bonus chapter in a collector's edition). Still, it's incredible to know that Galitzine will play Henry again — and so far, 2024 has been a fantastic year for the rising star.

After "Red, White & Royal Blue," Galitzine appeared in a couple high-profile projects, showing off his pretty impressive range as a performer. In Emma Seligman's 2023 queer comedy "Bottoms," Galitzine plays Jeff, a brutish high school football star who fires off bon mots like "Shut up, nerd — I f***ed your mom!" In 2024, Galitzine scored a starring role alongside Oscar winner Julianne Moore in the Sky TV and Starz production "Mary & George," where he plays a young man whose mother Mary, the Countess of Buckingham (Moore) convinces him to seduce King James VI and I (Tony Curran).

Collecting Oscar-winning co-stars like Thanos picks up Infinity Stones, Galitzine recently made waves in "The Idea of You," a dreamy rom-com where, as boy band heartthrob Hayes Campbell, he strikes up an unexpected romance with older single mother Soléne Marchand (Anne Hathaway). In pretty much all of these movies and shows, Galitzine has had at least one steamy sex scene — so in the GQ interview he addressed his reputation as "the guy who will have sex on camera" and responded to Xuanlin Tham's question about how Gen Z reportedly wants to see fewer sex scenes in pop culture. "I wonder if it's the pornification of our generation," Galitzine responded. "Or maybe the fact that due to the digital age, something so human as having sex feels like an affront."

Whether he's baring it all or baring his soul, Galitzine's performances speak for themselves, and he's poised to become one of Hollywood's brightest young stars. "The Idea of You" and "Red, White & Royal Blue" are both streaming on Amazon now.