Looking director Andrew Haigh on show's legacy: "I wish it had got to continue"

The series premiered in 2014 on HBO and on Sky Atlantic in the UK and followed the lives of three gay men and best friends living in San Francisco, California.

The lead trio of protagonists comprised neurotic video game designer Patrick (Jonathan Groff), the self-destructive artist Augustin (Frankie J Alvarez), and the jaded but ambitious chef Dom (Murray Bartlett).

Over the course of its two-season run, we saw each of the men deal with their family relationships, friendships, and complicated love lives, not least Patrick’s divisive love triangle with humble barber Richie (Raul Castillo) and his determined but partnered boss Kevin (Russell Tovey).

Despite the critical buzz and a dedicated fan base, Looking failed to pick up enough viewers for HBO, resulting in the network ending the series but providing Lannan and Haigh with the opportunity to provide a resolution to the story with the feature-length television film Looking: The Movie, which brought the narrative to a bittersweet close in 2016.

Now director Andrew Haigh - acclaimed for his work on films and series including 45 Years, Lean on Pete, and The North Water - has spoken with RadioTimes.com for Pride Month 2023 about his work on the acclaimed series as it nears a decade since its debut.

Of course, it's important to begin with where Haigh became involved in what would become an important period of his creative life.

Well, much of Haigh's input into the series could be traced back to his acclaimed 2011 British independent film Weekend, which is now considered by many to be a modern classic of LGBTQ+ cinema.

“So that film was released and then basically, they got in touch with me," recalled Haigh. "So the show was created by Michael Lannan and they were looking for someone to direct the pilot at that stage.

"That's kind of all it was about and so they sent me the script. I really liked it and then I flew out to LA and met HBO and then they greenlit the pilot. And so before I knew it, we were going ahead and doing it.

“Basically, yeah, they'd all seen Weekend and liked how that felt and the kind of tone and style of that film and I think they felt like it'd be suited to Looking, and then once I started, once I became involved in the project, I guess my role kind of grew within it.

"So I stayed on and obviously it was me and Michael and I was in the writers' room and directed multiple episodes and all that kind of thing, so it became more of my thing as well."

However, an ongoing series for American cable television is a very different beast from working on a British independent feature.

"I mean, I had no idea going into it and, of course, it's much bigger and Weekend was made for very, very little money, and we had a tiny crew, and then suddenly, you're within this big organisation and this big American studio and there are lots of people involved," noted the Yorkshire-born director.

"It was a different kind of environment, but I knew I still wanted to keep that naturalism of Weekend and the tone of that film, and try and bring it into what Looking would be."

Considering the acclaim of his film and the lack of Queer representation on-screen, Haigh noted that there was a great deal of expectation placed on the series before it even aired.

Haigh explained: "It was like people were expecting it to be a certain thing or not expecting it to be a certain thing, and obviously it's on HBO, so the audience is automatically hoped to be bigger. So yeah, it took some time to navigate that, because it was a very, very different experience."

As these different expectations about what the show was emerged, it is interesting to note how Haigh and the others behind the scenes saw the show - and it was not the gay version of any other seminal series.

The Lean on Pete director continued: "I think all of us who were making the show thought of it as the same thing: a kind of naturalistic look at three friends living in San Francisco trying to navigate their lives with all the complications within it.

"So that's how we saw it, and we certainly didn't see it as any kind of broad comedy – it was certainly the more kind of dramedy realm.

"But it was very interesting when the show was released, because then I realised, 'Oh, people are expecting it to be something else.' That's very difficult when it's put out into the marketplace and there's an expectation that it is the gay Girls."

Due to a complete drought of gay representation on television too, the series came under the microscope for how expansive and diverse its cast and the breadth of experiences being portrayed would be, with questions also thrown around regarding how likeable the protagonists were.

Haigh noted that the criticism did impact those working on the show, commenting that they found the backlash "difficult".

Haigh detailed: "There was some quite vitriolic abuse thrown at us in those early days and often, interestingly, by the Queer community - elements of that that were really, really keen to attack it and, you know, that was hard.

"I think everybody that worked on the show would agree that was not the easiest thing to have to cope with when you're trying to do something different and interesting and challenging and all of those things, and then you get kind of a backlash? Yeah, it was quite hard."

One character who came in for a great deal of criticism was Augustin, Patrick’s droll flatmate who made a habit of imploding his life through selfish choices in the first run, especially.

As a result, the showrunners tried to change audience perceptions of Augustin in the second run.

"I didn't think we'd quite know how much people would dislike his character and they liked him a lot more in the second season, which maybe was a reaction to that we tried to make him more likeable," he explained.

"But, to me, he was never unlikable. People make mistakes and I never found him unlikable. I found him very likeable. You know, I like characters like that, but I guess when there's so little representation, let's say, within Queer stories, that there's so much pressure on those characters and everybody.

"I mean, I'm saying when I watch other things, you're sort of on edge waiting to go, ‘Is this a good character? Is this someone that we should like? What does everyone else think of this person? What will straight people think of this?’

"And I think a lot of that was involved in people's reaction to the show. It's like, 'What are my friends gonna think of this person? What are my family going to think of this person? What will straight people think? You know, are these characters too boring? Or straight? People think we're boring?'"

Aside from the high expectations, the show did win praise for the rather groundbreaking amount of gay sex on display, along with all of the practicalities that went into preparing for it.

Looking came before the time of intimacy coordinators and a greater emphasis on comfort and safety on film and television sets. Yet, Haigh noted that his understanding of their production was of one that was a very comfortable space.

"I was actually talking to Jonathan Groff about that," revealed Haigh. "It's like, we all made sure that it was very, very comfortable for everybody on set and in a strange sense, we were all really excited about getting to show gay sex.

"We wanted to show it and part of our ambition and aim was to show it in different forms, and how intimate it can be, and you know, how sexy it can be. So we erred about getting that right.

"The studio was good, too – they allowed us. HBO was happy for us, they wanted us to push those boundaries and, as I say, it was a very, very Queer crew down to, like, the [director of photography] and the costume designer and the production designer, so it felt a very, very comfortable space.

"And I've done sex scenes before in Weekend and I kind of think I'm pretty good at making everyone feel comfortable in those situations and allowing the intimacy to come through, so yeah, it wasn't too much of an issue."

Despite the representation it provided, it was purely a numbers game when it came to Looking ending, but had Haigh and others involved considered where the show could have gone had it been renewed for further seasons?

Haigh contemplated: "I mean, there are these three guys in there, you know. I suppose they were in their late 20s, going into their 30s, and Dom was older, and so there's so many stories that that you can explore.

"But the truth is, in the end, the raw audience numbers weren't big enough and I understand that shows live or die on how many people are watching them and so it was sad for all of us, we sort of created this weird family as we were making that show.

"I was actually having breakfast with Jonathan last week... and we were just talking about how special it felt making that show and how much we all really, really cared about it.

"It’s funny – nowadays, you almost make a point of the make-up of the crew, but back then we didn't. But there were so many Queer people on that set, and in the writers' room, and I've never experienced that since. It was a really amazing feeling to be working with all of those people.

"So it was sometimes hard, because the show was loved by some people and not loved by others and after season 1 came out, it was not the easiest thing for all of us. We thought we'd made a really nice, kind, sweet show and then there was some, you know, backlash against it."

However, for a potential third run, Haigh considered: "I guess if season 3 had been a whole season and there would have been more exploits, you’d have the Kevin and Richie dynamic, I guess, and Patrick and where he's gonna end up. So there would always be more storylines that you could add.

"Where would we have gone on from that? I don't know. I mean, we were talking about what happened if you met them now. What would they be doing now? And, of course, you'd probably have to complicate the Richie and Patrick relationship in order to have a season now, because of how we ended it.

"But there are so many things to explore when you're telling Queer stories... it could be 10 seasons, and there would still be things to explore and things changed so much. If you told me that this show was still running, it would be very different now than it was, you know, 10 years ago. So, I wish it had got to continue."

As highlighted by the unrealised storylines, the central love triangle for Patrick on Looking provided a great deal of fan debate, but where did Haigh himself fall on it?

“I mean, I was always Team Richie,” confirmed Haigh, but he added: "I understood for Patrick the attraction of Kevin within the story, it made sense that he would be drawn towards Kevin but I mean, I think from the very beginning we in the writers' room were like, well, why wouldn't it be Richie? It's like that was always where we were heading in the story anyway."

So, despite Patrick and Richie's ending, would Haigh ever revisit the characters in an unexpected (if not, unlikely) revival of the series?

"I would definitely like to get back with everybody, without a doubt," the director affirmed. "It would be great to revisit those characters and see where they are."

He added: "It's nearly 10 years since we made the pilot. So it would be interesting to see those characters. Don would now be in his, like, mid-50s. Patrick would be in his late 30s. You know, there's a lot that changes in those years, and so it would be interesting to see where they're at."

Aside from Weekend and Looking, Haigh has also featured Queer characters in his other works, noting he has a personal affinity to them - and still brings a similar approach to stories that are not outwardly Queer.

Haigh commented: "Look, I'm obviously going to be drawn towards them. I don't think it's necessarily about a desperate need to represent Queer lives as such, although I understand that that's a good thing to be doing. But for me, it's like I am gay and so the stories I am drawn to are often Queer.

"It's as simple as that and I do want to express elements of what it is to be Queer in the world and will continue to want to explore those ideas on screen. So I'm always drawn to them.

"I would say even the work that I do that doesn't have an obvious Queer character to me, they are still infused with that sensibility. I’d call it a Queer sensibility. So even with The North Water or Lean on Pete, which don't feel like they're necessarily Queer films to me, when I watch them, I still feel that sensibility within the storytelling.

"And so definitely, it’s very important to me. I'm trying to explore elements about myself and so they're bound to come out on-screen."

Haigh himself did not have much in the way of representation for LGBTQ+ people when he was growing up, but of course, some seminal texts made all the difference.

"I was growing up in the '80s and '90s, I was a teenager in the '80s, so there was very little to watch," reminisces Haigh. "Yeah, there was very little that was positive. In those days, there were films being made and as an adult, you can look back at certain films that were made in the '80s and be like, ‘Oh, wow, I've only actually seen that film.’

"I didn't live in a cine-literate world. My family weren’t big film watchers, so I didn't get access to them when I was much younger."

However, Haigh added: "You know, there's no doubt that when Queer As Folk, the Russell T Davies show came on, it was completely revolutionary and so I didn't come out until I was 24 or something. So it took me a while.

"So things like Queer As Folk, Beautiful Thing - classics now, but they were really powerful to me when I was in that process of coming out and then as you get older, you started to watch more the pantheon of Queer cinema and there are all kinds of interesting films that have come along the way.

"It’s easier now. Obviously, there's more out there, but it wasn't so much the case in the '80s and '90s."

Now, Haigh is heralded by many as one of the leading directors in the modern pantheon of Queer cinema and television, but he finds it strange to consider himself as such.

"It's a very lovely thing to hear because it's really strange for me to hear that," concluded Haigh.

"I mean, I know that it's had an influence and that when we made Weekend there was no sense that, first of all, anybody would watch it, or that it would be, you know, liked as much as it is by people. So it's very special to me.

"I think in the end after however many films I make, that film will always be the one that is closest to my heart and I'm OK with that. I don't mind that... the fact that you can make anything that seems to have some kind of lasting impact is pretty incredible."

Looking and Looking: The Movie are available on Sky and NOW in the UK – sign up for Sky TV here. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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