The first look of Hulu's relationship drama Conversations With Friends dropped Tuesday (Feb 8), featuring married actor Nick (Joe Alwyn) and Dublin college student Frances (Alison Oliver) embarking on an intense secret affair.
But art does not mirror life for Alwyn, the longtime boyfriend of Taylor Swift.
The British actor, 30, made it clear that open relationships are fine for others, but not for him, in response to a question during Hulu's Television Critics Association press panel.
"People can do whatever they want that makes them happy," said Alwyn. "I'm obviously happy in a monogamous relationship," but open relationships "seem exhausting".
Jemima Kirke (Girls) stars as Nick's wife Melissa, who's involved in her own extramarital relationship in Conversations With Friends.
Kirke said having an open relationship would be all-consuming, requiring "so much talking with your spouse, maybe on a weekly basis, on what's OK and what's not OK".
But the tension involved with these non-traditional relationships is the centre of Conversations (premiering in May), based on author Sally Rooney's best-selling novel.
The Irish author also wrote Normal People, the novel that was adapted for the buzzy 2020 Hulu miniseries Normal People.
Alwyn said one of the compelling aspects of Rooney's writing is exploring new ideas of happiness, love and desire in relationships "outside of the constructs we create for ourselves. As a conversation, it's endlessly fascinating, which is why so many people love her books". – USA Today/Tribune News Service
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