Owen Thiele Talks ‘Adults,’ Original Series ‘Off Color’

In FX’s “Adults,” Owen Thiele plays Anton, the “friend slut” of the group.

Episode 3 of the Gen Z take on the “eclectic group of New York City roommates trope” sees the 20-something crew deal with a stabber in their Queens neighborhood. And the wanted sign posted on their block features the suspect smiling and waving to none other than one of their own.

Anton and the alleged stabber had exchanged phone numbers and made weekly dinner plans. After, his roommates force him to go through his texts, where they find hundreds of chummy brief exchanges with contacts like, “Briana Acupuncture Student” or “Leather jacket Newsies chorus.”

“The phone episode is very me,” Thiele tells TODAY.com. “To the point where I was like, we might as well just use my real phone.”

Thiele has previously called himself a “nepo friend,” due to his past experience landing roles in projects created by his friends. For example: Thiele went to high school with “Theater Camp” writer and star Molly Gordon before playing head of costumes Gigi Charbonier in 2023. Before 2025’s “Overcompensating,” series’ creator Benito Skinner — who wrote the show in part based on his own early 2010s college experience — was “already my best friend,” Thiele says.

But with “Adults,” an eight-episode comedy series helmed by executive producer Nick Kroll, Thiele landed a starring role, building a character he could “infuse” himself into and becoming one-half of one of entertainment’s most beloved phenomena: the sitcom ship.

“Nick Kroll did a fake out where he told us that we were getting on a Zoom to do another round of auditions, but really it was to tell us that we got the role — it was that moment where I was like, ‘I actually booked something, not through a friend who I forced to put me in something,’” Thiele says.

“That was the moment that I really felt like, ‘I can do this,’” he adds.

Below, Thiele, 28, discusses his breakout summer, that surprising kiss between Anton and Paul Baker (or “Panton,” as fans have dubbed them) and previews what viewers can expect from his own show, “Off Color,” a semi-autobiographical comedy about family.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

‘Overcompensating’ premiered in May. Weeks later, ‘Adults’ dropped. How would you describe the past few months?

It is surreal. It is the most insane — it’s a dream of all dreams. Every time I feel like I’m looking for synonyms in my head for the word whirlwind. It’s just been a whirlwind of joy. It was so amazing to make both shows. I feel like both of the shows that I’m in I got very lucky with the cast and the crew. “Adults” I didn’t know anyone when I started, but they’ve become my best friends, and “Overcompensating,” I knew Benny really well, and he was already my best friend. So it’s just working with friends, which I think you always hear about, but it rarely happens.

‘Overcompensating’ has been celebrated for embracing millennial culture, whereas ‘Adults’ has been billed as for Gen Z. Which generation do you identify with?

Well, I’m a cusper. I’m an honest, true cusper. I remember watching “Girls” and being like, “This is me.” And then now I’m watching TikToks of these 19 year olds, and I’m like, “Oh, my God, that’s totally me.” So I feel like I can kind of straddle both worlds.

How would you sum up the difference between the generations’ styles of humor?

I think “Overcompensating” is in the world of “Wet Hot American Summer,” these movies that we loved growing up, which just feel fun and camp. It’s so relatable. I dropped out of college after two weeks … but even still, I was like, “I know a Hailee. I know a Grace.” I knew every character. I feel like the humor is really based in relatability.

And with “Adults,” what I think they do so brilliantly is they take from the Gen Z sensibility of … it’s just joke after joke. I feel like now with TikTok, we’re so used to this fast paced, joke-after-joke lifestyle. I remember watching a TikTok the other day and it was a minute long. The joke didn’t come until the end and I was like, “This is so boring.” I’m so used to, like, 10 seconds in there’ll be a joke, 20 seconds in, another.

On your TikTok, you’ve engaged a lot with fans of the show. What was your approach to putting Anton into your social media?

For me, I think what was fun about the social media aspect is, a lot of who I am as a person is also in Anton. So it was really fun to even just post something that Owen would post and people would be like, “This is so Anton.” I was like, is that a compliment? Are you roasting me, or are you being super nice?

People have really taken to the Anton and Paul Baker plot line, which I think is so beautiful. It’s so cheesy to say this but it really makes me feel like, “Oh, people love, love. Love wins.”

Also, it’s so fun to tease because I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next season. On my own TikTok, I’m like, “Well, what if this happened?” Then I see the reaction and I’m like, “OK, that can’t happen because everyone hated that TikTok.” I feel like the creators, too, are learning from the way that we have our own special communication with the people watching it. And it feels like we’re just all in a friend group. They’re like, “Wait, Issa (Amita Rao) needs a girlfriend in Season 2!” And (creators) Ben (Kronengold) and Rebecca (Shaw) are so brilliant, I feel like they will hear that and take the people watching opinions, because it matters.

Does your phone look like Anton’s?

So this is what happened. I’m just gonna tell you it straight. (Laughs). So Episode 1, the pilot, when I auditioned, Anton was struggling with dating as he is in the season, but he was a little more emotionally reserved and a little more cutting. Then as we built this character together, they kind of infused a little bit of my people-pleasing aspects into Anton. So then it became a mix of what they had brilliantly written before, and also a little bit of Owen as well — I just used my name in the third person … I cannot believe I just did it.

But yeah, they infuse Anton with me. For instance, the phone episode is very me to the point where I was like, we might as well just use my real phone. We didn’t, thank God. But yes, if you look at my phone, it’s like, “Car Accident No. 4,” like, “Gray Socks Guy From Bar.”

Right now I have probably 2,000 unread text messages. But I would like to say that my mother is worse than me and meets people on the street and puts me in group chats with random people. So that’s why I have so many unread texts, because my mom will go to a 7-Eleven, meet someone and put me in a group chat with this person and all of his family.

“Adults” opens with Issa’s boyfriend, the Canadian, sexually fluid Paul Baker (Jack Innanen), moving into the house. He and Anton strike up a close friendship. In the season’s finale, Paul Baker learns his visa’s expiring, so Issa proposes. After she gets cold feet, their other housemates Samir (Malik Elassal) and Billie (Lucy Freyer) also offer to marry him.

The final scene reveals that Paul Baker and Anton got married. At their roommates’ urging, they share a kiss that turns more than platonic. But before anyone can react, the power goes out.

I want to talk about the ending. At the civil wedding ceremony, did Anton volunteer to marry Paul Baker, or did Paul Baker ask Anton to marry him at that moment?

I don’t know why, I just got a full chill down my spine. I felt like Anton in this moment.

I probably think, based on who Anton is — a little more emotionally reserved, emotionally stunted and scared of love — I don’t think he volunteered. But I think he was so beyond happy when he was asked. That’s what I would say.

What has your experience been diving into this fandom?

We’ll do anything to make people watch the show. We love it so much that we’re like, we will literally read fan fiction if you just turn on the TV. It’s been amazing because it feels like everyone watching it and everyone interacting with us online are loving these characters and the stories as much as we did when we were making it. It feels like we’re a little community of people… a group of people that I would get along with.

I love reading all of people’s theories about Paul Baker and Anton, or Samir and Billie, or what Issa is going to do. I’ve never been on a television show that has that. I feel so lucky to be a part of it because I’ve been on the other end for so many shows like that, where I was secretly on my finsta (“fake Instagram,” or a secondary social media account), writing comments about what would happen in the next season of whatever show I’m talking about.

So you were a fan of ship culture?

I love ship culture. (Laughs). I love it. “New Girl” was a big one for me. Nick and Jess, I was shipping. There’s been so many. I remember re-watching “Friends” during COVID. And I was like, “Oh my God. I love Rachel and Ross.” I love a sitcom ship, I really do.

After that kiss, after they deal with the power going out, what happens next?

Here’s my theory, and I’ve never really said this, and maybe I’ll get absolutely killed for saying it, but I think they’re all going to make it through.

I think Issa and Anton have such a beautiful friendship, and Amita and I actually have mimicked that in real life. We actually are the best of friends. She’s gonna be a bridesmaid in my wedding, like, that’s the kind of friend she’s become to me. So I do feel like, if that happened in real life with Amita and I, we would make it through. I probably wouldn’t do it, but we would make it through. So I think everything’s gonna be OK, but I do think, of course, there will be some hiccups.

We know Paul Baker has expressed that he thinks Anton’s ‘the coolest person in the world.’ How does Anton view Paul Baker?

I think Anton has finally found someone who he connects to on a level that he’s been searching for. But it is just so scary that that person is your best friend’s boyfriend.

So I think either this will change him for the better. Maybe he will be more vocal about his feelings, or this will set him back 20 more years. He will never say anything again. Let’s hope for the first.

While releasing “Overcompensating” and “Adults,” Thiele has also been working on his own show, “Off Color,” about his relationship with his parents, who adopted him. The show includes executive producer Ilana Glazer.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, the logline reads, “He’s gay and Black, they’re all Jewish, his mom should be on ‘Real Housewives’ and his cousin’s a former party girl turned Rabbi-in-training. The comedy is about a son who doesn’t want to grow up, a mother who has no intention of letting him, and a dad who’s probably faking a nap in the other room so he doesn’t have to engage.”

How is the development of ‘Off Color’ going?

We are chugging along. Our little team, all these people that I’ve looked up to for so long; Kent Alterman and Sarah Babineau were the heads of Comedy Central who greenlit my favorite shows ever, “Broad City” included. And then Ilana, who is a comedy legend and one of my deepest and biggest role models. So it kind of feels crazy to just even work with them.

So we’re chugging along, and hopefully something will happen soon.

Thinking of the premise of ‘Off Color,’ how do you approach putting yourself into a role? Is it natural for you?

Yeah, it is natural — because I’m such a narcissist. No, no, but it is natural. What’s so funny about writing about my family is that my family is so beautifully insane. I’ll write something and Ilana will read it and be like, “Oh, this could not happen.” And I said, “No, no, it just happened two minutes ago, which is why I’m texting you. … My mother really did this in the grocery store.”

That’s why it’s so fun, because it feels like family therapy. It feels like I’m journaling about the craziest things that my parents could do. But somehow it’s all real.