Joshua Bowman on "Revenge" and That Memorable “Make It or Break It” Kiss

To be clear: Joshua Bowman will not be playing a gay or bisexual character in his new TV show. Nevertheless, the former recurring player on ABC Family’s Make It or Break It (in which he portrayed bi gymnast Max) may still find himself embroiled in a bit of gay drama on his new ABC series Revenge.

In the new show the British actor plays Daniel Grayson, a twenty-something young man living in the Hamptons with his wealthy parents. He soon becomes romantically involved with Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp), a mysterious young woman harboring a dangerous agenda.

As if that weren’t already bad enough, in episode three Daniel’s old Harvard classmate Tyler (a role that’s since been cast in the form of yummy Nikita hottie Ashton Holmes pictured below left) arrives in town with the intention of taking over his identity. Word has it the character will be harboring a few secrets of his own – including the fact that he’s gay. Upon hearing this, I made a point of cornering Bowman at the network’s TCA after-party to see what I could find out.

“I don’t know if he’s officially gay, but I know that there is a friend of mine who comes who wants my life…sort of a ‘Talented Mr. Ripley’ kind of character,” the tall, dark, and unreasonably handsome actor told me. “He’s not who he says he is, really…I guess he’s a mysterious, swarthy, charming character who people will probably enjoy watching. And then you know, they’ll be quite shocked to see some of the things that he does and says.”

In order to achieve his nefarious ends, Bowman revealed that Tyler will attempt to provoke in Daniel the self-destructive, drug-and-alcohol-fueled pattern of behavior that previously led him down a dark path during his days at Harvard.

“[Daniel’s] whole makeup is that he wants to get away from that sort of status in the Hamptons and what he’s been pushed…to be doing,” said Bowman. “That’s what [his parents] Conrad [Henry Czerny] and Victoria [Madeleine Stowe]want him to be, this golden boy son. But he hates that. He doesn’t want to conform. I guess he’s a reformed bad boy.”

Of course, as any fan of Make It or Break It knows, Bowman is no stranger to portraying deeply-conflicted characters. I made a point of asking him about the attention-getting episode, aired this last May, that had Max telling his gymnastics teammate Austin (Zane Holtz) he was bisexual – after moving in for a brief, unexpected guy-on-guy kiss.

“I saw that blog,” responded Bowman, referring to AE contributor Chris O’Guinn’s recap of the episode. “Someone sent me that thing…It was well-written.”

Praised by O’Guinn for its uncommonly honest look at bisexuality, the episode became a hot topic of conversation among AE readers after it aired – though Bowman confessed that any direct response from the show’s fans proved rather minimal.

“[I didn’t get] too much [feedback],” he said. “Obviously more blogging stuff, and YouTube stuff. I don’t watch too much of it. I tend to move on [from previous characters].”

Regardless, he found the role to be quite rewarding as an actor.

“It was fun,” he said. “It was nice that they did that, and the character wasn’t just…an ordinary guy. He had a bit more to him, a bit more depth. …He’s like contending with [his bisexuality], you know? He’s conflicted with it. So I guess that was what we were trying to portray.”

When I asked him about the process of actually filming the climactic kissing scene, Bowman couldn’t help but giggle slightly at the memory.

“It’s funny, the first take I burst out laughing because [co-star Holtz’s] reaction was so good,” he admitted. “It was great! [Director David Paymer] did it before lunch so we didn’t have to deal with each other’s breath. [Laughs]”

As far as Revenge is concerned, Bowman assured me that the Tyler character will “be quite a big part of the show”.

“He’s gonna be an interesting addition to the cast, for sure,” said Bowman. “He’s gonna throw a big curveball at everyone. Definitely me for sure.”

If that “curveball” in any way involves another man-on-man lip-lock, you can most definitely count me in.

Revenge airs Wednesday nights at 10 PM on ABC.