‘Bonding’ Star Talks BDSM and Its “Vibrant, Complex, Dynamic Community”

Just days after the shortform dark comedy series Bonding was canceled at Netflix following its second season, a bright light came to close out its final chapter: an Emmy nomination for Brendan Scannell, the first nom both for the actor and the show. Scannell — who plays the gay sometimes-assistant, sometimes-bodyguard for his high school best friend, who’s moonlighting as a dominatrix — talked to THR about Bonding‘s indie roots, the solution to BDSM community critiques following season one and his hopes for the future.

What was it like to get that Emmy recognition?

It was really, really nice and gratifying. I got so many calls and texts, and it definitely feels like a nomination on behalf of the show. When I signed up to do it, it was in a Quibi-type way; it was going to be made by Blackpills, which was a French company that was about two years ahead of Quibi in wanting to make prestige, shortform content. We shot that first season in 2017 and then the platform fell apart before it ever really came to be, but we still had this great artistic product. That’s when Netflix bought it, and that was completely unexpected; then to do a second one was completely unexpected. So much of the original creative team signed up knowing that they wanted to do something that was artistically interesting but that wouldn’t necessarily receive any sort of viewership or recognition, so this feels like the culmination of a lot of people getting involved in something from the ground floor.

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How did doing the second season compare with the first?

Having Netflix behind it from the get-go, there’s just way more resources. It just felt like the show was getting the support it deserves, and we were also able to spread out the budget in a way that a lot of different types of artists and consultants were able to be paid in a way that they weren’t in the first season due to an extremely low budget. It was the last thing I did before COVID. I was in New York for two months in my hotel room watching Contagion, being like, “Are we going to get shut down?” And luckily we were able to finish a week or two before shit hit the fan.

How did BDSM consultants benefit you on set?

There were a lot more training sessions, like on rope work. As an actor, having that resource to ask questions for authenticity is always a huge plus. And having an intimacy coordinator on set was really helpful. I’ve never been able to work with one, and so it made me really conscious of how important that role is. Having more resources to spread out those roles and power dynamics allows everybody, from the writers to the directors, to do their job full-heartedly and with less fear.

There was criticism from the BDSM community about its portrayal in the first season. How did you all work to address that in season two?

The first season was very run and gun — it was indie television. The story is based on the real-life experience of our creator [Rightor Doyle] and so it was written to be true to his experience. When there isn’t a lot of representation in a certain field or a certain genre, the impetus can be on a piece of art to represent all facets of a community, and this, obviously, wasn’t able to do that. For the second season, part of the mission statement was to represent more facets of a really vibrant, complex, dynamic community in a way that is also true to the energy of the show.

Bonding was canceled after its second season. How do you feel about it coming to an end?

Every season you get of anything is a gift, and so I’m grateful for everyone who watched it. I can’t really go to a gay bar in America without people coming up to me telling me that they love the show, so that’s really gratifying. You can never say never whether something’s over for good, but I’m just grateful that I got to do it again with Rightor and [co-star] Zoe Levin, who is just an absolute rock star. You just never know [what will happen] in 10 years, when nobody’s going to want to see me in nipple harnesses.

How does doing shortform content compare with more traditional TV and film?

There’s a lot less fat in the story; there’s a real need for the story to keep moving and for things to keep happening. People come up to me and tell me that one of the main things they really love about the show is how short it is. It’s an afternoon — it’s the commitment of watching a movie. I also think the medium itself is traditionally for shows that can’t get the budget for a full 30 minutes, so you’re able to see different types of stories. A lot of independent television and independent web series exist in that five- to 15-minute length and are able to tell stories that aren’t necessarily getting greenlit at big studios or big television networks. It gave us an opportunity to make a show that probably never would have gotten made somewhere.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

This story first appeared in a August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.