The Stars of 'The Residence' Open Up about Playing a Gay POTUS and First Gentleman

The following includes minor spoilers for "The Residence."

The Shonda Rhimes-produced Netflix series "The Residence" features bingeable ingredients: a gay President of the United States and his husband, Kylie Minogue, a huge cast – including "Orange is the New Black" veteran Uzo Aduba, queer "Star Trek" actor Mary Wiseman, Isiah Whitlock, Jr., and Gioncarlo Esposito – and a murder mystery.

Perhaps the most exciting part of this list is the idea of an openly gay president and first gentleman living at the White House, "The Residence" of the show's title.

Actors Paul Fitzgerald, who plays President Perry Morgan, and Barrett Foa, who plays First Gentleman Elliot Morgan, are both out queer actors. They have strong theater backgrounds, and that, Foa said, was a point over which the TV power couple bonded early on.

"I got a DM from Barrett, saying 'I think we're gonna be husbands.' We'd never met," Fitzgerald recalled to the Daily Beast. "But I was fanboying that Barrett was in one of the early iterations of 'Avenue Q.'"

Foa found another way for the two to get to know each other. "For our first meeting, I scheduled a date to go to the Ronald Reagan Library and go to Air Force One," he recounted. "We had a research date!"

The two opened up to the Daily Beast about the show and its meaning for the queer community at a time when LGBTQ+ Americans are increasingly under attack from every level of government, including the White House.

"I'm a queer man myself, and probably very straight presenting," Fitzgerald stated. "I'm someone who's very comfortable in my sexuality."

When it came to portraying an openly gay POTUS, "I loved just being myself," Fitzgerald declared. "I didn't feel like I had to act straight or anything."

Foa recalled coming to Hollywood from Broadway and worrying that his sexuality might hamper his career. "It took years to figure out I can let myself be me however that might manifest," he told the Beast. "And here I have this role that I can bring my whole self to and not have to hide any shades of me. It's really lovely living your truth."

While another Netflix series, "House of Cards," strongly suggested that Kevin Spacey's President Francis Underwood was gay (or at least bisexual), Underwood's same-sex hanky-panky (including a three-way with his secret service bodyguard) was a closely held state secret. An out POTUS has hardly any precedent on TV. The Beast said "the only other notable example of an openly queer president on TV com[es] from Jodi Balfour's lesbian leader on 'For All Mankind.'"

Unlike that Apple TV+ series, "The Residence" is not science fiction... even if the very notion of an openly gay president seems like it right now. Rather, the show is a combination of drama, comedy, and mystery, with talented, quirky Detective Cordelia Cupp (Aduba) investigating the death of the White House Chief (Esposito) during a state dinner. The death, unconvincingly staged to look like a suicide, is being investigated by Cupp as a murder, and among the 200 or so possible suspects there are a few standouts, including an Australian politician who, for some reason, is wearing the victim's shirt. (Surely a Shondaland production wouldn't go the trite and tired "gay panic" route?)

Another potential suspect: none other than the First Gentleman. (Surely a Shondaland production wouldn't go with the equally trite and tired "gay villain" motif?)

Fitzgerald called the reaction of his presidential character to his husband being named a person of interest "my favorite moment in the entire series."

"I think the unique situation where someone implying your husband is involved in murder and you happen to be president creates a conflict of about 28 different crazy emotions and adrenaline rushes and fears and uncertainties all at once," the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" actor told the Beast.

"While Fitzgerald's character processes that his husband may be a murderer, Foa has to balance the shock of being accused with the concern that Perry may not immediately be on his side," the Beast relayed.

Said Foa: "It was such a tasty snack for Paul Davies to write for us."

Another delectable moment: a private White House concert by none other than "Padum Padum" singer Kylie Minogue. The First Gentleman isn't self-conscious about his enjoyment of the performance, the Beast noted, but Fitzgerald's president certainly is.

"But my repression isn't because I'm gay..." Fitzgerald made sure to point out. "...it's that I'm President of the United States. I'm trying to maintain an idea of what the presidency is."

Those who entertained visions of a President Pete Buttigieg – the first out contender for the White House to be taken seriously, with his 2016 bid coming well after Fred Karger sought the GOP nomination – might share Fitzgerald's view about the primacy of decorum, especially when it comes to LGBTQ+ people in positions of political power.

But unlike Buttigieg, TV's President Morgan does have a more readily accessible sense of fun.

"Ultimately, I want to represent that gay people are a multiplicity of things," Fitzgerald said. "We can be deadly serious and straight-acting, and we can also jump out of our f---ing seat at Kylie Minogue."

All eight episodes of "The Residence" are streaming now on Netflix. Watch the trailer below.