Hudson Williams on Parasocial Fans: ‘Shane and Ilya Are for Everyone. Hudson and Connor Are for Themselves’

The Story

The question was blunt, which is the point of The Assembly. “What is your perspective on your fans becoming emotionally invested in your characters, to the point of developing parasocial relationships with you?” one interviewer asked, according to Bustle (Bustle).

Williams didn’t dodge it. “That’s super interesting to me. I didn’t quite realize the level it could go to, until the show,” he said. “They are living so vicariously through this fictional thing, and it’s realer to them than anything else they have in their life. Which is something I can’t relate with. I’ve never clung onto something that hard” (Bustle).

He then went after shipping, the fan habit of pairing up co-stars off screen. He pointed to Twilight, The Notebook and Titanic as examples of couples fans wanted to be real: “They were like, why are they not together? … It’s like, they’re actors” (Bustle).

‘Not my business’

He wasn’t dismissive of the people who love the show. “I understand where they’re coming from. Like, the show means a lot, whatever. These characters mean a lot to them. But, you kind of have to separate art from artists,” he said, before borrowing a line from Tierney: “Shane and Ilya are for everyone. Hudson and Connor are for themselves” (Bustle).

Then he turned to Storrie. “How much he wants to show himself and share himself to the world is up to him,” Williams said, “and then it’s not up to people to ask for more, or feel like it’s not enough, too little, too much, whatever it is” (Bustle).

It isn’t the first time he’s said it. Bustle notes he once asked fans on Threads to stop “RPFing,” fandom shorthand for writing real-person fiction about him and Storrie (Bustle). The clip went up on X on Oct. 30, ahead of the season premiere of The Assembly on Nov. 1 (clip on X). PCP covered the episode’s Storrie question here.