'It lends a different feel to the scenes that Ken has with his dad, where his dad is basically implying that Ken should not be the guardian of the nephew because he's gay,' he says. So in some way he is living out his dream, even though he's very much in stasis and is a little bit stuck.'Įssex County is set in the present day, and Smith can't help but think about the current surge in anti-LGBTQ sentiment in terms of his character's journey. There's so much memory and nostalgia to that place for him. But the thing about Ken that's so nice is that he has kind of found his paradise, in a way. 'Which is that he's just going to be one of those very lonely guys that's just kind of plugging away. Smith imagines that Ken feels like he sees a very clear path ahead for him. I think when we first meet Ken, the impression I always had is that he's just sort of given up on finding someone or thinking that he's ever going to be in a meaningful relationship.' 'We talked about the fact that he probably is on the apps, or was on the apps at one point and just sort of gave up on it. Smith says that Ken's sexual history was something he talked a lot about with the creative team on Essex County - 'you know, what it's like for him just on a day to day basis out in a place like that as a gay guy,' he says. And so that was accessible to me and was something I was excited to explore.' 'You know, I had to tamp down my sexuality because I was afraid of being outed.

'I think connecting to being a gay man in a rural town was something that was pretty accessible to me just because of the way I grew up in Texas in the 90s,' he says.

He also publicly came out in 2019, and his experience grappling with his sexuality certainly aided in his ability to tap into Ken. Previous to Essex County, Smith is known for his work in both television (as Will Orski in Sense8, for example) and on stage (he was nominated for a Tony Award in 2014 for his work in a revival of The Glass Menagerie).

Essex County by Jeff Lemire