The Emotional Finale of Fellow Travelers: Decoding Hawk's Final Words to Tim

The Heartfelt Exchange

The powerful ending of Showtime's Fellow Travelers comes full circle with Hawk's 'promise you won't write' line to Tim. The celebrated series, which is nominated for Best Limited Series Made for Television at the 2024 Golden Globes, ended with the expected departure of Jonathan Bailey's Tim Laughlin, who is mourned by the regret-ridden love of his life Hawk Fuller (Matt Bomer). There are many thoughtful and emotionally poignant lines throughout the Fellow Travelers finale and one in particular references Tim's final message to Hawk during their initial Washington D.C. romance.

Tim and Hawk in Fellow Travelers episode 8

After jumping ahead to 1968 and 1979 in Fellow Travelers episodes 6 and 7, respectively, the Fellow Travelers finale revisits Hawk and Tim in the 1950s after Tim returns to D.C. after serving in the U.S. Army. Parts of the Fellow Travelers finale hint at a course for a plausible future between Tim and Hawk if it were not for Hawk's adamant and cowardly determination to keep Tim a permanent secret. The mistake of Hawk's betrayal is felt with full force by the end of the Fellow Travelers finale, as the seemingly 'bulletproof' Hawk loses everything on both sides of his double life.

Hawk and Tim on Fire Island in Fellow Travelers

Contextualizing the Final Words

The significance of Hawk's final words to Tim in Fellow Travelers is given additional emphasis considering that the words were initially exchanged from Tim to Hawk in a different context. At the end of Fellow Travelers episode 5, Tim tells Hawk that he has joined the Army as a desperate measure to get over Hawk once and for all. Hawk had always known that he and Tim didn't have a future together because it would destroy his public and professional perception, which is why Hawk chooses to marry Lucy Smith for the optics. Tim tells Hawk 'not to write' as an indication that he needs to forget about Hawk for a while so he can properly heal and move on.

Tim and Hawk at the end of Fellow Travelers episode 5

'Promise you won't write' is given a whole new context in the Fellow Travelers finale, as Hawk says these words to a terminally ill Tim after finding out he was used to gain access to the AIDS-indifferent Governor of California. Tim tells Hawk to leave the gala and go home, knowing that there will likely be consequences to the spontaneous protest against the Governor's stance on California Prop 64 that he, Marcus, and Frankie are about to perform. Hawk saying 'promise you won't write' to Tim indicates that he will finally begin the process of letting him go, much like Tim did when he originally said those words.

Hawk cries with Tim in Fellow Travelers episode 7

There is also the possibility that Hawk was adding a dark layer of humor to his final message to Tim, hinting that he knew Tim would likely be arrested for the protest. In this light, part of 'Promise you won't write' indicates that Hawk figured out that the relentlessly passionate and outspoken Tim would be put behind bars again for his actions, telling him not to write from his jail cell. This secondary angle of Hawk's final words to Tim actually alludes to a fundamental difference between the two characters, where Tim is willing to face the consequences of standing up for his true self while Hawk continues to cower and manipulate to conceal his identity.

Hawk looks at Tim in Fellow Travelers episode 7

The Unraveling of Hawk's Promise

Hawk fittingly broke his original promise to Tim that he wouldn't write to him even though Tim sent Hawk a telegram in 1957 advocating for Hungarian refugees. Hawk took this as an opportunity to lure Tim back in so they could pick up where they had left off romantically. After getting a full picture of Hawk throughout Fellow Travelers, it's really no shock that he would skew Tim's telegram as an open door to rekindle their old flame. Tim wrote to Hawk to invite him back into the U.S. State Department, luring him in the same exact way he did during the McCarthy era with the prospect of a job opportunity.

Hawk consoles Tim in Fellow Travelers Finale

Tim is certainly complicit in Hawk's methodological approach of rekindling their flame through the letter, as his telegram was likely sent with the curiosity of reuniting in some capacity. The Fellow Travelers finale proves that Hawk and Tim both wanted their unbreakable relationship as divided and heartbreaking as it turned out to be. 'Promise you won't write' serves as a note of finality to Hawk and Tim's decades-long connection and the long periods of tragic separation and distance within it. It's a way for both characters to say 'goodbye, for now,' in Fellow Travelers, knowing that despite the months and years of silence, they are bound to meet again. They won't write, because they don't need to, or they will, because they must.

Tim and Hawk at the gala in Fellow Travelers finale