Doomed Romance? Charlie Carver and Isaac Powell On 'American Horror Story: NYC'

The very quick season of "American Horror Story: NYC" – 10 episodes in 5 weeks – ends this week. What has been dubbed "the gayest 'AHS' ever" has been something of an outlier on the show, far less concerned with the supernatural than the real horror that hit gay New Yorkers in the early 1980s. Set in 1981, it has as a plot meme a lethal virus (not called AIDS) that was said to have been developed by the government and is infecting gay men.

Amongst those affected are the show's primary couple: A NYC detective with a BDSM bent (Russell Tovey) and his boyfriend, a gay firebrand who writes for the Native (Joe Mantello). But while their relationship is in tatters, a secondary romance develops between two other characters: Adam (Charlie Carver), a 20-something who goes cruising in the Rambles with his best friend only to see him go missing, and Troy Lord (Isaac Powell), an aspiring photographer caught in the shadow of his wealthy and successful mentor and boyfriend, Sam (Zachary Quinto). Over the show's season, Lord breaks things off with Sam and becomes involved with Adam, but, this being "AHS," don't expect a happy ending.

One of the more satisfying aspects of this season is how many out actors are appearing on it. In addition to Tovey, Mantello, Carver, Powell, and Quinto, there is Denis O'Hare, Sandra Bernhard, and Jeff Hiller.

Both Carver and Powell are newcomers to the Ryan Murphy universe, though Carver previously had a leading role on "Ratched" and played the Cowboy in the Murphy-produced filming of Broadway's recent "Boys in the Band" revival. Though only 27, Powell is the veteran of two recent highly-touted revivals: As Daniel, the male lead in "Once on this Island," and as Tony in Ivo van Hove's rethinking of "West Side Story," which ran from December 2018 to March 2019 before being closed to due the COVID-19 pandemic.

Carver and his twin brother Max first caught audience's eyes when they were featured on "Desperate Housewives," where they played Porter and Preston Scavo, sons to Lynette Scavo and Tom Scavo. They appeared as twin alpha werewolves on season three of MTV's "Teen Wolf," then as twins on HBO's "The Leftovers." On his own, Carver appeared on television series "Hawaii Five-0" and "The League." His feature film roles have included "Underdogs," "Bad Asses," and "I Am Michael."

In 2016, Carver came out on Instagram. He followed that with an appearance in the ABC miniseries "When We Rise" in 2017, which traced the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, beginning with the Stonewall riots in 1969. He made his Broadway debut as Cowboy in the 2018 revival of Mart Crowley's "The Boys in the Band" and reprised the role in the 2020 film of the same name, alongside fellow openly gay actors Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, Robin de Jesús, Tuc Watkins, and Michael Benjamin Washington.

"AHS:NYC" also marks Carver's professional writing debut. He co-wrote four episodes of the current season. "I've written some pilots and some specs before," he explained in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle's Datebook section. "This is my first professional writing credit. I'm learning from the best. I had so much fun working with Ryan and the other writers to craft the story and really see how to marry my own sensibility with the period that we were working with, along with the demands of the franchise.

"It's been such an educational experience. The way that Ryan can see the shape of things well before they're even fully constituted, it's the best. I keep saying the word 'fun,' but I'm still in the afterglow of having wrapped, and I really had the best time."

Without giving anything away, he added that Adam – his seemingly naive character – goes through a huge awakening by the series' finale. "Adam, by the end of the season – though I don't want to give anything away – really has a sudden transformation, or experiences new horrifying things very, very suddenly," he told Datebook. "To get to play that, while being a kind of heroic backbone of the season, was really fun. It seemed like an exciting challenge, and an important part of the harmonized forces of the season. We needed an ingenue and I was like, 'I'll do that. I've never done that before.' "

He added: "And, yes, representation matters, but it also affords this whole new wealth of story. It's such an exciting time to work [in television]. Even with 'American Horror Story' this season, I think we've moved to a place where gay stories, queer stories, LGBTQ stories, they no longer have to feel sanitized."

Powell previously appeared on four episodes of the last "American Horror Story," called "Double Feature." It is easy to understand why the dark-eyed, very ripped actor would also model, as he did recently in Paris, where he modeled for Balenciaga. "The highlight of the show for me was watching Cardi B shuffle down the front row across Anna Wintour and Isabelle Huppert to get to her seat. It was a truly iconic and priceless moment to behold," he said in an interview with Schön! Magazine.

"I was truly that American in Paris – the one wandering around aimlessly with my mouth agape at the beauty," he continued. "I couldn't tell you where all I went because I spent most of my short trip taking long walks in an unfamiliar city, but it would be hard to pick favorites anyway in a city as great as Paris."

He also discussed his upcoming role in "Cat Person," a psychological thriller directed by Susanna Fogel that recently completed shooting in New York, in which he plays a character named Clay. "Clay is an ex-boyfriend of Margot who comes back into her life during a very pivotal moment in her new relationship. He's in a moment of self-exploration and discovery when he and Margot reconnect."

Based on a New Yorker-published short story by Kristen Roupenian, it was, Schön! Magazine writes, "widely received because readers found the narrative to be relatable." Did Powell find it relatable? "I've had my fair share of bizarre dates, but nothing quite like what transpires in 'Cat Person.' "

Check out these pics from Carver's and Powell's Instagrams: