Michael Johnston was 19 years old, newly arrived in Los Angeles and still struggling to understand his own sexuality.
Then one of his first major acting jobs asked him to play a gay teenager.
Johnston, now enjoying a new wave of attention thanks to the hit psychological thriller Obsession, has been looking back at what that moment actually felt like.
His answer is simple.
“Terrifying.”
Johnston grew up in North Carolina and says he was still in “complete and utter denial” about being gay when he landed the role of Corey Bryant on MTV’s Teen Wolf in 2015.
“I grew up in the South,” he recently told Cosmopolitan.
“So it was really scary.”
Playing A Gay Teen Before He Was Ready To Be Out
Corey entered Teen Wolf as a gay high-school student who later became romantically involved with Mason, played by Khylin Rhambo.
At the time, Johnston praised the series for treating queer relationships as naturally as straight ones.
But privately, the experience was considerably more complicated.
Johnston says he was still coming out to himself and to the people around him while filming the role.
That does not mean Teen Wolf forced him out.
Rather, playing Corey happened during a period when Johnston was already beginning to confront something he had spent years avoiding.
And doing that while portraying an openly gay teenager on a popular television series understandably came with pressure.
Then The Messages Started Arriving
What Johnston did not expect was how much Corey would mean to viewers.
He has said that over the years he received thousands of messages from queer fans who told him the character helped them feel better about themselves.
Some said seeing Corey helped them come out to their own parents.
For Johnston, that transformed the role from something frightening into something deeply meaningful.
He has said that he had no idea simply playing the character honestly could have that kind of impact.
Now, looking back, Johnston says he is proud of the part and proud of who he became.
Ten Years Later
Johnston is now 30 and starring as Bear in Obsession, Curry Barker’s supernatural psychological thriller about a young man whose wish to make his crush fall in love with him goes very, very wrong.
The film is not a queer story, and Bear is straight.
But Johnston himself is openly gay and has said he would like to play another queer role in the future — particularly one where sexuality is simply one meaningful part of a fully realized character.
That perspective feels especially interesting given where his career began.
At 19, playing a gay role frightened him.
Today, he is actively hoping for another one.
And Then There’s Troye Sivan 😂
Because no coming-of-age story is complete without one slightly ridiculous final chapter.
During a recent Cosmopolitan interview, Johnston was asked about the wildest direct message he had received since Obsession put him back in the spotlight.
His answer?
Troye Sivan.
Johnston said Troye replied “need” to an Instagram Story featuring his coffee.
That is all we know.
We are not turning one word and a caffeine beverage into a celebrity romance. 😂
But when Johnston was asked what he would say back, his answer was essentially an invitation to get coffee.
Which feels like a rather delightful place to leave things.
At 19, Michael Johnston was terrified to play gay because he was not yet comfortable being gay himself.
A decade later, he is openly discussing the experience, proud of the viewers Corey helped — and apparently available for coffee with Troye Sivan.
Life does occasionally write better arcs than television. ❤️
📷 @themichaeljohnston / @primevideo / @mtv
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