Luke Macfarlane may play a daddy in his new AppleTV+ series Platonic, but now he's also a daddy IRL, as the star recently welcomed a new bundle of joy into his life with his partner Hig Roberts.
The out actor shared this update in an Instagram post late last month with the caption: “Tess Eleanor Macfarlane— Born June 4th 2023.”
“We started life with some hectic days and received world-class care,” he wrote. “On Father’s Day we got to take her home. Her Dads can’t wait to introduce her to all the remarkable people and the beautiful world we live in.”
We love this for him!
In Platonic, Macfarlane plays the role of Charlie, who is married to Sylvia (Rose Byrne) and is an attorney. The series follows “a platonic pair of former best friends approaching midlife (Seth Rogen and Byrne) who reconnect after a long rift. The duo’s friendship becomes all-consuming and destabilizes their lives in a hilarious way.”
Out contributor Ty Cole got the chance to speak to Macfarlane about the series, being versatile in his roles as an openly gay actor, working with Byrne and Rogen, platonic friendships in the queer community, and what would happen if you gave him four margaritas.
Ty Cole: As an openly gay man, it’s hard for queer actors to play all different types of roles without having stereotypes attached to the roles they are given in Hollywood. How do you make sure to receive and portray roles that are versatile and how do you think you are pushing boundaries for other queer actors?
Luke MacFarlane: Aw man. I think, like so many actors, I’m just looking for the next job. The best I can do for myself is make sure the people who I’m working with at the moment really like you because they become your advocates. [Nicholas Stoller] became my advocate. He said, "Of course this guy can play straight." It really begins with people in positions of power giving you the opportunity. All we can continue to do is when people find themselves in positions of power, they use it to create opportunities and say, "Yes, this openly gay actor can play a straight character." All I can say is, we need to make the people in power feel they can do it and it won’t harm their project.
Charlie says he can’t watch The Emoji Movie again. What’s a film you can’t watch once more?
I had some friends who went to the Titanic exhibit so we recently rewatched the film. There are some crazy lines in that movie. I’m happy I revisited it because it’s a piece of cinematic history, but there are some questionable lines in there (laughs). I’m reluctant to quote them because it’s a Google search away for your audience (laughs).
I agree (laughs). You play a father in the series. What did you learn about fatherhood through your role as Charlie?
It’s funny, there’s being a father and there’s also being an onset father. As an onset father, when you have a bunch of young adults on set with you, they are treated like every other actor, except they are very young. You become a bit responsible for check-in and making sure they know their lines, what are you gonna do, and where are you going to move. I love working with kids, but you should get an AD or acting coach credit because you’re definitely having to do a bit more. I feel Charlie is a modern father with these notions of letting your wife be friends with another guy. It’s surprisingly such a contemporary idea.
There’s always discourse on platonic friendships. Let’s flip it to the queer world. When do platonic friendships overstep the line in the queer community? Share some boundaries you would have in place.
Oooh, these are good questions Ty. You’re crushing it. It’s a really hard comparison to make. I think because intimacy is how a lot of queer friendships begin, it’s the way they are often started. The boundary that would be important for me is a friend talking sh** about your partner. I don’t think that’s ever helpful and there are so many versions of “Listen, I’m going to tell you something that people are afraid to say.” I think this is rarely ever helpful because a good friend knows that their friend is struggling and working on something and they will get there, but you don’t need to tell them. I don’t think telling them is a way to solve this problem.
Who would you say is your greatest platonic friendship you’ve made in your career and what makes it so strong?
A very, very long time ago in my theater days in New York City, I did a play with [Jesse Tyler Ferguson] and we have remained friends to this day. He’s great and I love watching his career. He’s been a great inspiration to me so I would say that one.
What was the best part about working with Seth and Rose?
They are both so uniquely funny in different ways. Rose has this joke like, “What’s the gossip?” She doesn't actually want to hear gossip, she just wants to hear about you and your day. She’s one of the good ones. She remembers your partner’s name, your friend's name, and your weekend plans. She’s a good one and she’s subtly funny that you don’t always see what she’s doing. Going back and watching the show, I’m appreciating it all, and her funny is so subtle. Seth is outwardly funny and he can rip a line. He does it so effortlessly. Watching their different versions of funny was really fun.
Luke, are you a big TikTok person or know the TikTok trends?
No, but I’ll do my best.
There’s a fun margarita challenge happening on TikTok now... "If you give somebody one margarita, imma open my legs, give me two margaritas, imma I will give you some head. Give me three margaritas, imma put it in my 'hoohah' and give me four margaritas imma put it in my tooth."
If Luke drinks 4 margaritas, what would happen?
Oh boy. If I were to drink four margaritas, what am I going to give? Hmm (laughs). I’m probably going to promise somebody that I would make them something and then regret it. I make s*** and people always have an idea for something so I’ll tell them I’ll make it for them and I am a man of my word so I’ll go over to their house and install something. I would promise to do a Taskrabbit job and then regret it (laughs).
Wedding themes were discussed in the final episode. If you planned a wedding, what would the theme be for it?
2022, we still have this friend called COVID popping around so [Carla Gallo] ended up giving most of her lines to a tennis ball because her scene partner wasn’t around. That was a unique situation on her wedding day because she married a tennis ball (laughs). We had a lot of fun so it’s nice to have the gang all together. If I were to have a wedding, the theme would be "Wilderness Destination." I have this idea where everybody would get on a plane and we would fly to Alaska, have a beautiful wedding somewhere very remote, get back on the plane, and take you home.
Oooh, and no cameras!
Exactly, no cameras. We have so few opportunities to be private nowadays. My generation was writing their secret thoughts in a journal and they would lock it with a key and hide it. Now our secret thoughts are very public all the time, so it’s important to keep some things private.
Always great to have some mystery.
You can catch the season finale (and the rest of season one) of Platonic on AppleTV+.