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WATCH: Romance sparks between a man & his late mother’s nurse in this sneak peek at upcoming indie series

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Image Credit: ‘For Years To Come’

Love can come into your life at the most surprising times.

For thirty-something Johnny, he never thought he’d fall head-over-heels for a new crush while grieving his mother’s untimely passing. And he certainly never expected that crush to be her hospice nurse, Edward.

But is there a spark here, or is Johnny just grasping at the memories of his mother? That’s one of the questions at the center of the upcoming indie series, For Years To Come.

Created by and starring James Patrick Nelson, the sweet dramedy takes an open-hearted look at love and loss. As Nelson’s Johnny parses how to say goodbye to his mother, he throws himself head-first into a new romance with the tender and charming nurse, Edward (The Flight Attendant’s Jason W. Wong).

At the same time, he’s trying to reconnect with his distant father (Office Space’s Richard Riehle), but it becomes clear the two know so little about each other’s lives. For instance, Johnny has no idea his dad’s actually a big-time adult film director… not yet at least!

Heavily inspired by his own life story, Nelson independently created the pilot For Years To Come with filmmaker Micah Stuart, and the pair have been touring it at film festival across the country, hoping to reach audiences and find a home for the rest of the series. Most recently, it played to a sold out crowd at LA’s Outfest, where it was enthusiastically received.

Ahead of its next screening at the 19th Annual HollyShorts Film Festival on August 15, Queerty is delighted to share a sneak peek clip of For Years To Come—featuring Johnny and Edward’s chemistry on full display—as well an exclusive interview with creator/star James Patrick Nelson, which you can find below. 

QUEERTY: What was the initial spark of an idea for For Years To Come? What themes and questions did you set out to explore when you began writing it?

JAMES PATRICK NELSON: I think some of the big thematic questions of the series are: How do I live when I know I’m gonna die? Is there ever a wrong time to fall in love? Is the story I tell about my parent really a story about myself? Is there beauty on the other side of grief?

When my mother died, the grief did not look anything like what I would have expected. It was so much more unpredictable. My first impulse was to lean into joy—I thought, “Life is short, so I have to savor every second of it.” And then the challenge was discerning when that joy was authentic and when it was a defense mechanism to keep me from feeling pain. 

I always wanted to make a piece of art about this experience, and then when the pandemic hit, and so many people were faced with unexpected and unimaginable loss, and still pulling themselves up and daring to find a way through to the happiness on the other side, I realized this story had a much more universal appeal.

And—we have to know—where did the idea that Johnny’s dad makes adult films come from?

That part’s a true story! When my mother was dying, I found out my father was [an adult film] director. I always knew I had to find a way to incorporate that into a project someday. 

When Mom was sick, I was being really transparent and inquisitive with both of them, asking all the questions I’d ever wanted to ask. I always had a vague understanding that my father was a filmmaker, or wanted to be one, but I never had any evidence of what he’d done, and when Mom was sick, he confessed to me that he used to be a big-time [adult film] director. This was so head-spinning, because I’d always known him as the suburban dad who painted the fence and watered the lawn and picked me up from school. 

There are so many different angles from which to explore this part of the story, but we were very intentional in the pilot to treat it as a cliffhanger. I think a lot of audiences are still subconsciously (and systemically) trained to think of any queer narrative as being similar to porn, so with a logline that features the words “gay” and “adult film,” I was really keen to subvert the expectation, and present a very grounded, heartfelt, almost “classic Hollywood love story” between the two queer characters, so you almost forget about the “[adult film] director” part of the story all together, until it rears its head. 

As is evident from the clip, you and Jason W. Wong have lovely chemistry. How did you know he was the guy for the role? What surprised you most about his performance?

Jason has been so delightful to work with, and I’m so thrilled our chemistry has been resonating with audiences. When they first meet, Edward is Johnny’s mother’s hospice nurse, so there’s a fine balance that has to be there. The character needed to be emotionally invested, but not make it too much about himself. He needed to shift my character’s perspective, while never being judgmental, but always staying considerate and warm-hearted. He needed to be humble, but also very seductive. 

Jason found the perfect balance of all those elements, better than anyone else we saw. He did the thing in his audition that acting teachers are always telling you to do—he made the scene about the other person, which was particularly important for this character. Every time I watch the pilot, I love Jason’s work more and more; he’s so enchanting and elegant, and like I said, it really excites me that the subtlety of our connection is resonating. 

Now of course, as the story progresses, a lot of red flags are going to emerge for both of the characters and they’re gonna have to wrestle with the emotional imbalances in their relationship—I know Jason and I are both really excited to tackle those storylines.  

Considering this is a pilot, what can you tease about what might be in store for Johnny throughout the rest of the season?

He’s going to dive head-first into this new romance with Edward. Johnny really feels like the most reasonable reaction to a significant death in his life is for him to live as joyfully and intentionally with the time he has left, and he thinks love and romance and sex are a lot of what make a good life. But the more he clings to this carpe-diem sensibility, the more strained his relationships will become. 

You can’t numb sorrow without numbing joy, and you can’t really be intimate with someone if you don’t make space for their vulnerability. So the romance is going to teeter on the brink, as Johnny’s toxic positivity ties him up in knots—and of course, the world will turn upside down when he finally discovers his father’s secret.

Now that For Years To Come has had the opportunity to play at a handful of film festival, what’s been the most rewarding part of sharing such a personal story with audiences?

It has been so moving to watch audiences see themselves in the story. That’s always the most incredible part about sharing a piece of art you’re really proud of with an audience—it feels intensely personal, and then all of these people you’ve never met tell you how it felt personal for them, too, and you feel like you’ve built kinship and connection.

So many people have come up to me to tell me stories about their parent’s death, and how the grief they experienced didn’t happen at the pace or in the manner they expected, and how they had to wrestle with guilt and uncertainty because of that. And then so many queer folks have said how represented they feel, watching 30-something and 40-something queer protagonists in a story that features plenty of joy and heartache, but in which the characters’ queerness is not the conflict. 

It’s been so incredible to have so many people, of all different backgrounds, come up to me and say something like, “I could totally see this on TV today! When can we see Episode 2?” Hopefully soon!

You can find more information about For Years To Come and the HollyShorts Film Festival here, and stay tuned for updates on where you can see more from the series next. 

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