Was townes gay

In the book, Benny is with two other players on the phone, but the show also places Harry, Matt, and Mike there. Harry is a significant addition because it finally allows a fair comparison between him, Benny, and Townes, who is in the room with Beth as she takes the call.

In the miniseries, Beth comes to rely heavily on alcohol, cigarettes, and tranquillizer pills — so much so that she cuts all her ties to her friends and can barely muster the desire to play chess. The miniseries leaves a lot about this relationship ambiguous.

All rights reserved. In the book, Townes doesn’t show any romantic feelings towards Beth because he thinks she’s too young for him. Her flaws are much more vivid and permanent, whereas in the show, Alma clearly goes through some change. However, when he invites her to his hotel room to photograph her for a newspaper, another man enters.

I think he loved her as an incredible chess player, and I do think he thought she was beautiful and captivating and had a sort of crush on her. The most obvious reason that Townes and Elizabeth don’t sleep together in The Queen’s Gambit is the implication that Townes is gay.

In the book, Benny is the only one of her romantic interests who still supports her and is still in her life at this point. The book was finally brought to life with the miniseries, with Allan Scott contributing as an executive producer, writer, and creator. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Our Culture Mag Limited.

The Queen’s Gambit never dives head straight into the topic of Towne’s sexuality and leaves it largely open to interpretation. June 20, In the series, Beth meets Townes at her first local tournament in Lexington. To play the closeted Townes, Fortune-Lloyd took inspiration from classical Hollywood star Rock Hudson, a high-profile gay man who had to hide his sexuality from the public during the same era the.

Our Culture logo Our Culture written out in full. In the book, Beth spends far more time with Benny in New York. The brief interaction is enough for Beth to deduce that Townes is probably gay. In the book, the most important relationship Beth has is with chess.

She locks herself inside her house, occasionally humiliates herself in public, and almost throws her potential away. What’s almost groundbreaking about Queen’s Gambit is their utilization of unapologetic gay characters like D.L. Townes, the only man Beth ever loved, and who turned out to be gay, and Beth.

In , screenwriter Allan Shiach penname Allan Scott optioned the rights to the book. Fans have been curious to know whether Townes is, in fact, gay. In the book, Beth loses the game because Borgov is simply better than her. Here are some of the differences between the book and the miniseries.

Adapted from the novel by Walter Tevis, which was published in , the screen adaptation was a long time in the making. Is D. L. Townes gay? Both stories follow the life of Beth Harmon, an orphan who grows up to become an international chess sensation. The two keep bumping into each other over the years, and Beth begins to think he reciprocates her feelings.

Some 'The Queen's Gambit' viewers claim that the devilishly handsome chess player and Beth Harmon were positively shippable. The final episode seems to suggest that Beth and Benny still have a chance when he calls her in Moscow. The Paris game with Borgov. The closest they come to becoming lovers is in "Doubled Pawns," The Queen's Gambit episode 3.

The brief interaction is enough for Beth to deduce that Townes is probably gay. Prior to his death in , Heath Ledger had planned to direct and star in the film opposite Elliot Page. Because of the format of the story, the romantic aspect is drawn out and amplified.

All our content is free to read; if you want to subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date, click the button below. This seems to refer to the money he throws away on speed chess, but in the book, he goes to the casino and plays poker. My impression was that Townes was gay, but was infatuated with Beth nonetheless.