Everyone’s Talking About ‘Pillion’: Where Can You Watch Alexander Skarsgård’s Gay Biker Romance?
You won’t traditionally find “rom-com” and “BDSM” in the same sentence, but Pillion is far from traditional. In A24’s new kinky, queer film, Alexander Skarsgård plays a leather-clad biker who takes on Colin (Harry Melling) as his submissive partner.
“What’s so interesting about it, for me, was how it feels so relatable and familiar, but maybe dealing with a subculture that people aren’t so familiar with,” Melling told Variety. “It was how those two things interplay that I found so fascinating. You were taking romantic comedy tropes and subverting them.”
With all of the buzz around its London premiere — and the halter top that Skarsgård wore on the red carpet — you might be curious when exactly Pillion comes out in the United States. Speaking for ourselves, we needed to find out immediately, so we did a deep dive into the movie’s release date plans, plot summary, cast list, and more. Keep reading for the full rundown.
Where can you watch Pillion?
A24 snagged Pillion for U.S. distribution all the way back in October 2024, but the company only has “2026 (TBD)” listed as its release date. Though it hasn’t been officially confirmed, the movie is rumored to land in U.S. theaters in February. (Wuthering Heights/Pillion double feature, anyone?)
What is Pillion about?
Pillion charts a sadomasochistic relationship between the timid, barber shop quartet-singing Colin (Melling) and enigmatic biker gang leader Ray (Skarsgård). Once Colin catches Ray’s eye at a London pub, he becomes Ray’s domestic and erotic submissive. It gives Colin’s life direction, but as time goes on, he has to figure out if being a 24/7 submissive is what he really wants and needs out of life.
There will be plenty of heat in Pillion. “I often find sex scenes boring on screen,” Skarsgård told Empire. “There’s a lot of tension leading up to [them], and then once people get going, it’s not very interesting. But these scenes were dramatically quite interesting. There’s lust, but also jealousy and confusion and pain.”
He commended his costar Melling at the Zurich Film Festival for how he approached the sex scenes. “Harry did a beautiful job of calibrating it. You don’t shy away from it because ‘Oh, we can’t show men having sex,’ but you also don’t show a close-up of a dick just because you can, for the shock value. I think my mom will like this movie, and it’s about kinky gay bikers and a D/s relationship. Portrayed with the perfect amount of respect, but not too much respect,” he said, according to Variety.
Who is in the Pillion cast?
The cast is small beyond Melling and Skarsgård. Lesley Sharp and Douglas Hodge play Colin’s supportive parents, with whom he lives at the start. Ray’s biker gang is, in fact, a real-life biker gang: the U.K.’s Gay Bikers Motorcycle Club, who helped with Lighton’s research. “I wanted to cast people who didn’t feel like they were playing dress-up in these parts,” the director told Screen Daily.
Who made Pillion?
Pillion is director Harry Lighton’s first feature, though his 2017 short Wren Boys was nominated for a BAFTA. Lighton also wrote Pillion’s script, which was inspired by Adam Mars-Jones’ 2020 novel Box Hill. (The latter penned an essay about watching his book come to life onscreen for The Guardian.)
Is there a Pillion trailer?
You can get your first glimpse of the unconventional rom-com by scrolling to the top of the page. So far, A24 has only put out a teaser, but we’ll update this page when the full trailer drops.
What do you think about what you’ve seen of the movie so far? Tell us in the comments below!
Pillion, TBA, In Theaters
