Sorry Folks, Alexander Skarsgård Didn't Come Out As Bi In That Interview

Americans will finally get to see Pillion next month (ha, us Brits were spoiled early.) Alexander Skarsgård is out on the promotional trail once more, spreading the good word about the dom-com that our own Jason praised as ‘a Prince Albert piercing through the heart.’ Alexander plays Ray, an impossibly handsome dominant biker who takes in the sheltered Colin (Harry Melling) and introduces him to a world of wrestling, picnics, and control.

Skarsgård is on the cover of Variety, prepping for both Pillion and The Moment, which he stars in alongside Charli XCX and Kylie Jenner (together at last!) The profile delves into his evolution from Stellan’s oldest kid to leading man to weirdo character actor. He’s asked about his fabulous wardrobe for the Pillion press tour, which he credits his stylist Harry Lambert with putting together. Then he’s asked about a comment he made at the Zurich Film Festival where it sounded a hell of a lot like he was coming out.

While promoting the movie and his role in it, Skarsgård said, ‘I found that in this case, it’s not really relevant to what my background is. I mean, I do have a kid, but what I’ve done in the past, who I’ve been with, men, women…’ It was a vague comment but it did seem easy to spin it into a casual coming out of sports. It would have been extremely Skarsgård-esque to just drop that detail mid-interview then move on. But nope, Skarsgård didn’t come out.

‘“Oh,” Skarsgård says after being asked to elaborate, taken aback. “That it resonated with my past [his role in the movie]? It was definitely not an intended statement. I don’t know what I was talking about. Maybe it has to do with — there’s a lot of focus sometimes on me as an actor. Maybe it was trying to shift the focus more to the story and these characters. And the importance of telling a story like this.”’

Sorry, fellow bis. He would have been an excellent addition to the roster.

I do feel for Skarsgård here. He’s kept his private life pretty out of the headlines even though he’s part of a large and famous family (he has a child with partner Tuva Novotny, who you might recognise from Annihilation). He’s also played queer roles before and obviously has no issue with it. I’ve seen a few people online condemn both Skarsgård and Harry Melling for being straight dudes playing gay roles, which is an old and oft-justifiable complaint but one I have some issues with.

As a cat-flap myself (swings both ways), I can see why you’d read Skarsgård’s clarification and think he was putting on an act or something. The dude wore leather halter tops on the red carpet to plug this movie. Was it shtick or cosplay? Yeah, it’s his job but I don’t think it was mean or mocking of the queer aesthetic. And I also think the issue of who gets to play LGBTQ+ roles is more nuanced than social media makes it out to be. Check out the Heated Rivalry guys, who are having their private lives picked apart to see if they’re ‘good’ representation, or when Kit Connor from Heartstopper felt bullied into coming out because some losers thought he was ‘queerbaiting’ (real people can’t do that, you weirdos.) Demanding that anyone meet a specific definition of identity is TERF nonsense and we do not accept it here.

Yeah, there’s a history of cishet people taking on LGBTQ+ roles and being heralded as oh-so-brave for it while real representation suffers, but I don’t think Skarsgård is contributing to that, especially in a movie that is so grounded in a seldom depicted subculture and is directed by a gay man. I’ll take his allyship and artistic contribution over yet another round of ‘is this person problematic’ discourse.

Speaking of Skarsgårds, Papa Stellan will appear on CBS’s Sunday Morning with all either of his kids. It’s a smorgasbord!

So many Skarsgards!

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— Kayleigh Donaldson (@ceilidhann.bsky.social) January 19, 2026 at 11:05 PM