In 2025, it can seem a tall order to make a television show about young people finding themselves in New York City without reckoning, at least a little bit, with the staggering legacy of Friends or Girls. Still, FX’s Adults—which premiered this week and stars Amita Rao, Malik Elassal, Jack Innanen, Lucy Freyer, and Owen Thiele as a group of friends trying their best to grow up in Queens—doesn’t spend too much time doing so, apart from a quick and funny line about someone being “the V of our G, voice of our generation”—likely a subtle nod to Lena Dunham’s Hannah Horvath.
Thiele, who hosts the podcast In Your Dreams on Alex Cooper’s Unwell network, has already established himself as a standout supporting player in his friends’ projects (think Gigi, the fashion-history-espousing, piercing-happy costume artist in Molly Gordon and Ben Platt’s 2023 film Theater Camp), but 2025 is finding him in his leading-man era. Not only does he star as George on Benito Skinner’s show Overcompensating, but his interpretation of Anton on Adults is delightfully deranged without veering into parody.
This week, Vogue spoke to Thiele about his suddenly full shooting schedule, making sleeplessness work for him, and admiring Anton’s main-character energy. This conversation has been edited and condensed.
Vogue: How’s this current moment of nonstop attention treating you?
Owen Thiele: It’s insane. It’s insane and scary and weird. I’ve popped into little things and had my friends very kindly put me in their projects, but other than that, I’ve never had something that’s been on billboards, so it’s just the craziest, scariest, and coolest feeling.
How was it, going right from shooting Overcompensating to Adults?
Overcompensating was first and then Adults, but it was within a week of each other that these shows were shooting. We were in Toronto a lot—that’s my second home, shoutout Toronto, I love it there—and it was so fun. Benny [Benito Skinner] is a dear friend of mine and was before filming, and then the cast of Adults became my best friends during and after filming, so I feel like I’ve just been working with my friends. It’s been amazing.
How did you find time to balance shooting with your podcast?
Emma, I don’t sleep. I sleep two hours a night, famously. This isn’t a bit at all; I wish I could sleep, but I’m so not well that I ultimately just can’t fall asleep. I, like, fought through anesthesia when I was getting my wisdom teeth out. My body just does not want to sleep, so I have time for myself because we’ll wrap filming and then I’ll still have six hours. My body might be rotting from the inside out. No one knows.
What stood out to you about Anton when you first read the Adults script?
When I read the script, I thought it was one of the funniest things I’ve ever read. I literally laughed out loud, which I rarely do when I read something. I fought tooth and nail to get the role, because I do think that there was a period of time where the gay character was solely just the gay friend, or the bestie that would have a snarky line in a scene and then never show up again for episodes to come. I felt like Anton was actually a main character with main-character energy, you know? He takes up space in a really beautiful way that I feel like I haven’t seen for a Black, gay character in that way. I was so attracted to the role because I felt like they were giving this diverse character a real platform.
Do you think George and Anton would ever hang out?
No. [Laughs.] I think George is so secure and so self-assured and so beautifully confident in a way that me, Owen, can’t even relate to, especially at that age. I think he would look at Anton, who is a little bit older than him, and say: Get your life together. What the hell is going on? But I relate to Anton a lot because I think Anton has the nervousness and anxiousness and ultimately the Gen-Z mental illness that we all know and love.
