Alan Cumming on THE TRAITORS Season 4, Iconic Roles, and His Queer Moment for INSTYLE Magazine

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Alan Cumming is featured in INSTYLE’s This Guy series, where the Emmy-winning actor and host of THE TRAITORS opens up about the hit Peacock series’ most explosive season, reprising Nightcrawler in Avengers: Doomsday more than two decades later, and why THE TRAITORS has become a queer cultural phenomenon. From reality-TV chaos to blockbuster franchises, Cumming reflects on his current cultural moment.

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On Season 4 of THE TRAITORS and the moment of history that happens in tonight’s highly-anticipated episode

“There’s something that happens—well, there are several amazing things that happen, actually—but there’s some toxicity in it this year that hasn’t happened quite as much as before… It’s so insane and brutal. It’s incredible. I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this: There’s a thing that happens in episode seven that is the most incredible moment of Traitors history. It really is. It is just so brilliant and just so wicked and they spiral.”

“There’s a bizarre collection of people and some hilarious alliances and friendships are made… As a sociological experience, it’s endlessly fascinating.”

On THE TRAITORS as a queer cultural force:

“Traitors came along at a time when, in our society, queer people are being persecuted and legislated against. The show is so queer in its sensibility and its aesthetic and has a lot of queer people in it… People need to make more of a connection: all the things you love about this show are queer—gay, gay, gay in spirit. Even the notion of hiding your true self—there are so many allegories there.”

“Traitors does that as well—weaving this queer spell over America. If you like that, why not support or be kind to queer and trans people? I’m a 60-year-old man coming out in these really femmy things, with crazy hair and makeup, and people are like, I’m here for it. It’s such a positive thing because in our actual, real world, hopefully seeing more of that, the next time they’re walking down the street and they see a non-binary person or someone [who presents differently than] what they expect a person of that gender or age to look like, they might think again about their prejudices. I really do feel that’s why I love Traitors so much.”

On his viral monologue on JIMMY KIMMY LIVE! about the state of American healthcare, immigration, and trans rights: 

“I was so shocked at the reaction to it because I thought, Gosh, all I’m doing is saying the truth and being loud about it. I wasn’t being nasty or sensational. I realized, we’re so scared to speak out, all of us. I realized how lucky I am to have another life [outside of America]. It made me think I should use my voice more. It was a salutary lesson.”

“It’s so nice to come back to Scotland and feel you’re in a country where your values are echoed by the government and the people around you,” Cumming says.

On being unafraid to voice concerns about American policies: 

“There are masked militia wandering around our cities, taking citizens off the street and potentially, probably, killing them. All these people have disappeared. In Scotland, people care about each other and they understand the need for a safety net and they actually have compassion. That’s not a surprise—it’s a given. I don’t feel that in England.”

“When I was a little boy at school, when you would say, ‘That’s not fair,’ that would be the worst thing you could say. Fairness and a sense of justice was really ingrained in your DNA. That’s not fair is something that would stop any argument. It sounds cutesy, but how about some kindness? Why is that seen as a weakness? It’s so awful that [Trump has] managed to make kindness and compassion into weakness.”

[Photo Credit: Max Montgomery/InStyle Magazine]

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