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The Gossip Girl reboot on HBO is currently airing its second season, and the reviews have been mixed. A huge talking point among fan conversations is the triad between Max Wolfe, Audrey Hope, and Aki Menzies.

While Max seems to be down for anything on GG, his portrayer, Thomas Doherty, said he couldn’t do a polyamorous relationship because he’s “just not built that way.”

'Gossip Girl' actor Thomas Doherty as Max Wolfe
Thomas Doherty as Max Wolfe | Barbara Nitke/HBO Max

Thomas Doherty doesn’t think he can enter a polyamorous relationship

Audrey and Aki were longtime friends who became lovers. When the show starts, Aki begins to understand his bisexuality. On the other hand, Max is confidently pansexual and is also sexually experienced, although he isn’t looking for anything serious for fear of getting hurt.

Audrey, Aki, and Max enter into a love triangle and, unable to fight their connection with one another, decide to become a triad. However, Doherty, who plays Max, isn’t open to polyamory. In a recent interview with I-D, Doherty said:

“I’m just not built that way. But some people are very evolved. It’s not my place to pass judgment, because why not go after it?” 

The actor said being able to portray an open and fluid character like Max has allowed him to question society’s conventional ideas about sexuality. The 27-year-old actor said:

“I always find it incredibly liberating to play different characters and playing Max being pansexual, it makes me look back and question any preconceived notions or ideas that I’ve had about myself, or any conditioning that’s been fed to me from day one.”

Thomas Doherty doesn’t believe in labels

Doherty may not subscribe to polyamory, but like many of his peers, he doesn’t believe in labels. In a 2021 interview with Variety, Doherty said of labels, “I think it is very limiting, and I think as I get older and experience life a little bit more, you constantly evolve, and you’re constantly growing.”

The actor said he finds labels to be too limiting. “They’re almost walls to your growth,” he opined. Doherty told the publication that he doesn’t use labels to describe himself, although he said he prefers dating women. “It’s just been girls. That’s a preference,” he said.

Doherty has been linked to several celebrities before. He and Disney star Dove Cameron broke up in 2020 after dating for almost four years. The two met on the set of Descendants 2 and instantly hit it off. Doherty is currently rumored to be dating supermodel Yasmin Wijnaldum, according to Elite Daily.

Is Thomas Doherty’s character Max Wolfe Chuck Bass 2.0?

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Since the Gossip Girl reboot landed on HBO, fans have endlessly offered comparisons of the characters and storylines. The HBO show may never escape the enigma that was the original series, and it shows. Doherty’s character Max is one of the characters who has unfortunately been compared to OG Gossip Girl bad-boy Chuck Bass. 

The two share a very camp smirk that is almost uncanny when placed side by side. They are also very sexually promiscuous, and both are New York City-born-and-bred ultra-wealthy teens. Not to mention that both actors, Doherty and Ed Westwick, are U.K. natives who had to switch accents to bring their characters to life.

According to Variety, GG showrunner Joshua Safran said he thought Doherty was trying to lean into his inner Chuck Bass during auditions. Safran said he noticed Doherty wanted to make his character Max too sinister like Chuck and talked him out of it.

“Actually, this guy has more Cary Grant about him, like a rakish winking. You’re in on it with him,” Safran recalled telling the Scottish actor. “Once I said that to him, Max was born,” the showrunner revealed.

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