Every few months, a new man becomes the collective fixation of the internet—a phenomenon known as the “Internet Boyfriend.” It’s a recurring trend where fans obsess over a specific actor or celebrity who projects some blend of charm, humility, and emotional vulnerability.
Lewis Pullman is the latest to earn this title.
Try as I might, I too could not avoid falling victim to Lewis Pullman’s charms. My curiosity over the actor’s sudden infiltration of my social media feeds led me to binge his filmography and waste hours watching past interviews.
One thing stood out to me– this moment has been long overdue. In a landscape dominated by spectacle, Pullman reminds us that the most magnetic performances are often the quietest ones– an attribute that Pullman himself seems to share.
Take his performance as Bob in Top Gun: Maverick (2022), for example. The character is a quiet, reserved, but highly skilled pilot able to take care of business when the time comes. In a movie featuring major rising stars in Hollywood, and anchored by Tom Cruise, Bob is not the typical character one would desire to play.
The modesty of the character seems to be a quality he also shares. Pullman understands the importance of his role in the grand scheme of the movie, comfortable taking a back seat in support of the story over himself. He even opted to keep his shirt on during the iconic beach football scene as he felt it would be of disservice to his character to go topless.
While Pullman may have gotten his start playing nerd-adjacent characters such as Bob or Miles Miller in Bad Times at the El Royale (2018), he’s not limited to this type of role. His performance in films such as The Starling Girl (2023) and Skincare (2024) demonstrates his range as an actor.
In The Startling Girl, Pullman plays a youth pastor named Owen who preys on a seventeen-year-old girl in a Christian fundamentalist community. It is sickening to watch as Owen manipulates Jem (Eliza Scanlen), convincing her that their actions are what God wants and can not be sin. Jem is a toy to Owen, abandoning her and picking her back up again when he feels like it.
In a similar vein, Pullman’s character Jordan in Skincare uses Elizabeth Banks’ Hope Goldman to get what he wants. He is an eccentric character who forces Pullman to play multiple versions of one person. He is both the boy-next-door and an annoying salesman. He is your toxic ex-boyfriend, or maybe he is just misunderstood.
When Jordan’s own performance is revealed, you admire the work Pullman has been doing to layer the character and suddenly realize why the character felt so off. Each moment he’s on screen is so fun, it’s easy to look past the red flags.
These are performances that lack pretension. It is easy to see how some actors would attempt to center their characters in the narrative, overshadowing those around them. They are characters that could be altered to garner sympathy from the audience, but Pullman does not seem interested in doing that. His performances allow for the harm of the character’s actions to resonate with the audience in a way that feels completely human.
The two films are also independent productions centered around female-led stories. Now that Pullman has Marvel backing, I can only hope he uses his newfound stardom to support more diverse projects outside of the mainstream spotlight.
Speaking of Marvel, Thunderbolts* (2025) is the latest addition to his filmography, and where his ‘internet boyfriend’ title solidified. As Bob, Pullman subverts your understanding of what a superhero can be. His character is prone to darkness– addiction, trauma, and mental illness are major aspects of his character. Thunderbolts* convinces you that anyone can be a hero. It opts to humanize and invest in the characters, which is a refreshing change from past entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The actor has spoken out about his desire to depict Bob’s mental health struggle accurately, utilizing his background in social work to help tell the story. He speaks with an authenticity that seems rare for the star of a major blockbuster. Like Bob, Pullman seems just like everyone else, which is part of what makes him so endearing.
A large part of Lewis’ charm is this down-to-earth, humble country boy vibe he gives off. Pullman spent time growing up in Montana, working on cattle farms with his father and fellow actor, Bill Pullman. Fortunately for fans, you can watch him tap into this part of his life in fifteen episodes of Outer Range (2022-2024).
In one of my favorite roles of his, Pullman plays Rhett Abbott. In a show that deals heavily with the supernatural, Rhett is a grounding force. He’s torn between familial expectations and his own personal ambitions. Pullman excels at capturing the suffocation and frustration living in a rural community can produce, and you watch him shove it away deep inside him as he is forced to do so within this environment.
Plus, he rides a bull and wears a cowboy hat. What more could you ask for?
In all seriousness, the “Internet Boyfriend” phenomenon may initially be seen as young women celebrating an actor for his looks or forming a parasocial relationship with a curated version of a person. And while that may certainly be true, not everyone can become one. There is a degree of talent required, one that said young women are able to identify and help curate our culture’s next obsessions.
Pullman’s rise through the ranks is indicative of this. The qualities he brings to his roles—subtlety, authenticity, and quiet depth–seem to match his off-screen persona and traits that appeal to many young women in today’s society.
This alignment between self and screen may be exactly why it’s taken audiences longer to notice him: he doesn’t clamor for the spotlight, and neither do his characters. But that’s also what makes his recent ascent so compelling—he’s not breaking out because he’s suddenly louder or flashier; we’re simply learning to pay closer attention.
Opinion Courtesy of Kam Ryan
Feature Image from ‘Thunderbolts*’ Credit to Marvel and Walt Disney Studios via Collider