Lukas Gage On Portraying Sex-Positive Characters On TV

In a brand new interview with Variety, Lukas opened up about his kinky, queer, sex-positive roles and the way it’s all about illustration and the liberty to embrace ourselves actually.

The 27-year-old actor did not tackle all these sex-positive roles accidentally. “My hope is that [the communities] feel seen and they don’t feel judged and they feel like it’s a space of sex positivity and sexual identity positivity.”

While it isn’t for everyone, Lukas is right down to convey visibility to the kink neighborhood. “We have a couple people from the golden shower community that are very grateful that it’s being shown on screen, and they have some haters who are yucking some people’s yum.”

“Everyone should feel heard and feel seen. I never wanted to make anyone feel scrutinized or like the butt of the joke. I just believe that everyone should embrace all their kinks and everything that they love about themselves and not feel ashamed,” he added.

In addition to his racy intercourse scenes in Euphoria, The White Lotus, and now Season 4 of You, he lately premiered a brand new raunchy queer comedy, Down Low, at SXSW — and it is clear he isn’t afraid to push the envelope.

With Down Low particularly, he feels it is “a story about selfishness versus selflessness and embracing one’s true self before it’s too late.”

“I grew up with some people whose parents came out later in life,” he mentioned, speaking about sexually repressed adults. “I feel so lucky at where I’m at right now, where people at least are getting to a more accepting place, that it’s embraced to be who you are and to discover and explore, whereas these people that I grew up with, their parents never got to.”

“They were suppressing all these feelings for so long and then they get into the later end of their life and they’re like, ‘Shit, I didn’t live my life authentically and embrace myself and love myself.’ It’s all about doing all that stuff before it’s too late.”

Young, queer, kink, or ambiguous, Lukas is all for it if folks see themselves in his characters. “That’s the goal,” he included. “At the end of the day, you hope that the stories do more than just entertain.”

“People say to me, ‘Why are you always in wacky situations and crazy stuff?’ But if I have a kid saying, ‘I felt seen in that and I feel connected to this character,’ if I am part of that conversation, then that’s an honor and a huge compliment.”