‘Silicon Valley’ Star Thomas Middleditch Says He and Wife Mollie Are Writing a Comedy Series About Their Swinging Lifestyle

“Swinging has saved our marriage,” the actor tells Playboy

Thomas Middleditch and wife Mollie
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Though he plays a coding nerd on TV, Thomas Middleditch is no square in real life. The “Silicon Valley” star recently told Playboy that he and his wife Mollie Gates are writing a comedy series based on their swinging lifestyle.

“Swinging has saved our marriage,” Middleditch said in the “20Q”-branded interview.

This all came up in the middle questions — read a portion below.

Playboy: You and one of the Godzilla writers visited a swingers club with your partners during production. Are you and Mollie, your wife of four years, familiar with the swinging scene?

Middleditch: I don’t know how much I can say, because I don’t want my wife to be mad at me. Only after I got married was I like, “Mollie, I’m sorry, but we have to get nontraditional here.” To her credit, instead of saying “Fuck you, I’m out,” she was like, “Let’s figure this out.” To be honest, swinging has saved our marriage. We have different speeds, and we argue over it constantly, but it’s better than feeling unheard and alone and that you have to scurry in the shadows. By the way, it’s now called being “part of the lifestyle.” The term swinging is old.

Playboy: Do you have any advice for couples who may be exploring that lifestyle?

Middleditch: For anything sexual — whether in terms of the sex act or identity or kink — you want to know where the walls of the box are. Mollie and I have created our own rules, and compared to most of the people we’ve met who do this kind of shit, our rules are strict. We’re not off on our own; we’re together, a unit. It’s a perpetual state of management and communication, to the point where it’s like, “All right, we’ve got to stop. Chill.” I’m gas, and she’s brakes. This is actually the premise for a comedy series we’re writing together.

Read more from the (very) wide-ranging conversation here.

“Silicon Valley” returns to HBO with its sixth and final season on Sunday, Oct. 27 at 10/9c.

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