Leo Woodall plays a queer maths genius in new Apple TV+ thriller Prime Target: ‘He breaks some rules’

Leo Woodall, star of The White Lotus’s most transgressive gay sex scene, is one smart cookie in new Apple TV+ thriller, Prime Target.

The British actor will lead the new eight-part mini series in the role of Cambridge post grad and queer maths whiz, Edward Brook. He’s starring alongside non-binary Trinkets star Quintessa Swindell.

Created by Sherlock and Doctor Who writer Steve Thompson, Prime Target follows the “world’s greatest mind” – Edward – as he exacts a theory about prime numbers that could enable him access to every computer in the world.

His professor (Daddy Issues’ David Morrissey) fiercely advises him to give up the ghost, but Ed, on the trail of a murky government secret, refuses to cease in his attempt at cracking the code.

Dark forces catch wind of what he’s doing, and attempt to take him down – by any means necessary. It’s up to Swindell, in role as national security agent Taylah Sanders, who has been quietly watching over him, to assist him in unravelling his theory.

While the explosive trailer alone has been enough to get TV lovers interested, there’s a reason for LGBTQ+ folk to give it a watch, too: Ed is queer, and in a relationship with young man, Adam (played by Lost Boys & Fairies star, Fra Fee).

Speaking about the new series to Queerly recently, 28-year-old Woodall said he was interested in playing Ed as he was unlike any role he’s had before.

“For me, I’d never taken on a role like Ed. I’d previously played guys who were very outgoing and sociable and get into mischief and enjoy a bit of mischief and [were] very good with people, and Ed is none of those things,” he explained.

“He’s not good with people, he doesn’t like people, he doesn’t like going out, he hates any sense of mischief. He breaks some rules, don’t get me wrong, but it was for me a new territory and I was very interested in exploring that.”

Speaking about Ed’s queerness, Woodall’s co-star Swindell shared: “As far as the queer representation in this series, I love how Leo’s character is represented, because it’s not something that’s very obvious.”

They added: “It’s just a by-product of who he naturally is, and doesn’t need to be discussed. It was more a question of who he’s decided to open his life to, which I really respected, and thought was something I wanted to be a part of, when looking at the broad scope of the series.”

Leo Woodall starred in iconic The White Lotus gay scene

While Leo Woodall has “never taken on a role” like Ed in Prime Target, it’s not the first time he’s taken on a queer character. Though, as The White Lotus fans may recall, Ed in Prime Target is surprisingly far more orthodox than Woodall’s first queer character. 

Woodall played Essex lad Jack in Mike White’s multi award-winning black comedy The White Lotus, a man introduced as the “naughty nephew” of wealthy gay British expat (and, it transpires, season villain) Quentin (played by Tom Hollander).

While viewers were led to believe that Jack and Quentin were related in the series, the internet caught aflame after it was revealed that the pair had secretly been sleeping together.

White said that he wanted to include the jaw-dropping plot twist to “make gay sex transgressive again”, although viewers ultimately learnt that Jack wasn’t, in fact, Quentin’s nephew.

The White Lotus was arguably Woodall’s big break, and so he had “no reservations” about the “surreal” scene.

“When I found out about the scene, I was speechless for a while,” he told Variety.

“I’m such a huge fan of Tom’s, and when I heard that he was going to be playing my uncle, I thought, ‘that is unreal’.

“And then when I found out that I was going to shag him as well – that was kind of surreal. Anything that Mike White does with this show is kind of perfect, so there were no reservations about it. It felt like an incredibly ‘wow’ moment.”

Following his role in White’s hit comedy, Woodall bagged a lead role in last year’s heart-shattering Netflix adaptation, One Day, alongside Ambika Mod.

He is currently gearing up for his big film breakthrough as Renée Zellweger’s new love interest in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy.

Leo Woodall is believed to be currently in a relationship with his The White Lotus co-star, Meghann Fahy.

Prime Target is streaming on Apple TV+ from 22 January.

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