Are you ready to fall in love with the cast of Pillion?
The upcoming kinky gay romance Pillion has movie fans and the queer community in a chokehold, as it premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and is scheduled for release in the United Kingdom on November 28.
While the film doesn’t release in the U.S. until 2026, it’s already one of the hottest topics in Hollywood.
Pillion is a British romantic comedy-drama about an introverted, shy gay man named Colin who becomes a lifestyle sub for a sexy, mysterious biker.
Scroll through to find out more and check out pics of the sexy cast, including stars Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling!
Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård
Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård at the 2025 London Film Festival
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFI
Pillion’s tagline reads: “A timid man is swept off his feet when an enigmatic, impossibly handsome biker takes him on as his submissive.”
Director Harry Lighton with stars Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård
Harry Lighton, Harry Melling, and Alexander Skarsgård at the London Film Festival
Kate Green/Getty Images for BFI
“Ray uproots Colin from his dreary suburban life, introducing him to a community of kinky, queer bikers and taking all sorts of virginities along the way,” Variety wrote of the film’s plot when the project was announced. “But as Colin steps deeper into Ray’s world of rules and mysteries, he begins to question whether the life of a 24/7 submissive is for him. Has he found his calling, or simply swapped one form of suffocation for another?”
Alexander Skarsgård and Jake Shears
Alexander Skarsgård and Jakes Shears
Jeff Moore/PA Images via Getty Images
From the trailer, we know that Colin meets Ray in a bar when he sees a group of gay bikers, and Colin is immediately enraptured. Soon, Colin is caught up in a whirlwind of love, kink, leather, and motorcycles.
Harry Melling
Kate Green/Getty Images for BFI
Harry Melling (The Queen’s Gambit) stars as Colin, an introverted and unassuming gay man who sings in a barbershop quartet and works writing parking tickets.
Alexander Skarsgård
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFI
Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood) stars in the film as Ray, a devilishly handsome gay biker who takes Colin under his wing.
‘Pillion’ director Harry Lighton
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English filmmaker Harry Lighton is the mind behind Pillion. For his feature directorial debut, he adapted Adam Mars-Jones’s 2020 novel Box Hill.
Jake Shears
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Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears makes his screen acting debut in the film, playing Kevin.
Paul Tallis (masked) on the red carpet as his ‘Pillion’ character, “the human puppy”
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Paul (Kvasir) Tallis is a Welsh biker and Pup Play enthusiast who plays a Human Puppy in the film.
Anthony Welsh
Kate Green/Getty Images for BFI
The film also stars Douglas Hodge, Lesley Sharp, and Anthony Welsh (pictured above).
Alexander Skarsgård and Maggie the dog
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Rosie the Rottweiler appears in the film as Ray’s pet dog.
Melling and Skarsgård attend the 2025 Cannes Film Festival
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Skarsgård told Pink News that the filmmaker and actors worked hard to make the movie feel real.
“We wanted to avoid stereotypes and also try to make those scenes feel authentic. [Sex] can be clumsy, it can be awkward, it can be weird and it can be funny. It doesn’t have to be sexy all the time,” he said. “We wanted those scenes with the whole gang to feel authentic but it was also important to distinguish the couples within this group because we’re not carbon copies of each other.”
Harry Melling
Kate Green/Getty Images for BFI
Melling says that when he first joined the film, his friends couldn’t believe that the former Harry Potter actor was doing a movie like this.
“I remember speaking to a few friends of mine about this story, what was involved in it. They were like, ‘Oh wow, Harry. Wow!’” he said.
Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Lighton
Photogenic/Claudia Alba/Europa Press via Getty Images
Lighton, pictured here with Skarsgård, said that he ended up cutting several of the film’s more hardcore sex scenes.
“It was purely because I didn’t want to push the audience into feeling they were being deliberately shocked by an image,” Lighton told Variety. “So, for example, there was one close-up of a dick, a hard dick … like down the barrel of the lens. And after watching the film on that ‘fuck-off’ screen I thought, yeah, cutting it was probably the right decision!”
“There’s definitely a raunchier version of this movie…. What you’ve seen is the family-friendly version…. There’s also the Alexander Skarsgård cut,” Skarsgård added.
Alexander Skarsgård and Paul Tallis
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFI
Pillion won the Best Screenplay prize and Palm Dog (an award for dogs in films at the festival), as well as nominations for the Caméra d’Or and Queer Palm.
Alexander Skarsgård at a ‘Pillion’ screening in Spain
Photogenic/Claudia Alba/Europa Press via Getty Images
Pillion will be released in the U.S. sometime in 2026.
Alexander Skarsgård
Photogenic/Claudia Alba/Europa Press via Getty Images
While promoting Pillion, Alexander Skarsgård spoke about what drew him to the role.
“I found that in this case, it’s not really relevant what my background is. I mean, I do have a kid, but what I’ve done in the past, who I’ve been with, men, women… To me, what was important was that this felt like an opportunity to tell a story about a subculture I hadn’t seen portrayed this way — with so much authenticity,” Skarsgård said, according to Variety.
Alexander Skarsgård at the Zurich Film Festival in Switzerland
Andreas Rentz/Getty Images for ZFF
Many fans took Skarsgård’s statement to mean he has been with both men and women, while others took it to mean it doesn’t matter if he’s been with men or women.
Alexander Skarsgård at the Cannes Film Festival
Daniele Venturelli/WireImage
While filming True Blood, Skarsgård was asked how he felt about filming gay sex scenes.
“You just have to embrace it. I had two gay sex scenes on the show; they’re incredible scenes,” the actor recalled. “I remember talking to Theo [Alexander], who played the Greek lover of Russell Edgington [played by Denis O’Hare], and that was the first gay sex scene I had on True Blood. He’s also a straight guy, and he was nervous; he had never kissed a guy before. I just said, ‘Look at the scene. It’s this nemesis. When he comes in, it gets seductive.'”
Alexander Skarsgård at the Cannes Film Festival
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Skarsgård has been wearing outifts that pay tribute to the gay leather and BDSM scenes at events for the film.
Alexander Skarsgård at the NYC ‘Murderbot’ premiere in April
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
In 2025, Skarsgård also starred in the sci-fi comedy series Murderbot for Apple TV+.
