Hudson Williams and His Inscrutability Make the Rounds
– 5 min read
Here’s a question:
What do you think goes on in his head?
In the infinitely small amount of time that Hudson Williams has been incredibly famous and constantly, daily, hourly photographed, he never once has looked surprised. No matter what the scenario, he’s always serving a face, a tone.
This one, from last night’s Vanity Fair party, isn’t hard to interpret. “We’re doing a twin thing and we’re really pulling it off. People are enjoying this, as am I.”
Perhaps he’s amused that we’ll all eventually figure out he and Connor Storrie are participating in tone-play – Hudson’s look is entirely black, Connor’s is brown – or he’s already thinking about the next inscrutable pic he’s about to take.
Maybe less than inscrutable. Maybe it’s, “Wait, Connor was at the beginning of this photo carousel but – is that a fur MUFF he’s carrying? I thought a muff was only meant to be hand-sized… is it more of a shrug?”
But this one clearly says, “My girlfriend is here. You didn’t know my outfit was also going to go with hers, did you? Fooled you. Oh, and you definitely didn’t know my train was so long it’s either flowing behind me or being held off-camera. You’re welcome.”
But it can change on a dime, this inscrutability, and this to me is why Hudson Williams, of all the Heated Rivalry cast, is still out here all the time in as many outfits on a weekend as there are hours.
For example, earlier last night, on the Oscars red carpet before the show, wearing Balenciaga, he was pretty clearly engaged in a fun game called “Let’s see if I can freak out interviewers”, as follows:
#HudsonWilliams teases what fans can expect on #HeatedRivalry Season 2:
— Variety (@Variety) March 15, 2026
“Sex.”
Watch now on CNN and TBS or stream on the CNN app. pic.twitter.com/amR6toQcaH
To me the funniest part about this isn’t the way he slurs ‘sssexxxxsss’ like an animated snake, but the red carpet reporter, fighting for blasé, who listens twice and then nods, “....Oh!”
Who is this kid? He’s been famous for half an hour and he just couldn’t be better at it. I should be sick of seeing this person everywhere but I’m not, because each new experience is like an absurdist play every time.
Take this clip with Chicken Shop Date Amelia – it takes on about seventeen personalities.
It’s dorky-silly, then absurdist-uncomfortable, nominally flirty, absurdist-mysterious (‘A children’s blanket’? I know there was no actual story there, and I also know that, had she asked, this man would have had a whole tight 5 ready to go) and British-genial – but he’ll be someone else by the time he gets to the next interviewer.
How is he so good at this? Just extremely extroverted or self-possessed? Unaware of how he’s coming off? Convinced all this press is the ‘real’ acting job? I don’t buy any of that for a second, or else I buy all of it at once. The only thing I’m certain of is that it’s clear this is all, and always, going exactly according to his plan.
Here he leaves the CAA pre-Party on Saturday night, in a (sold-out) Viviano 3-piece I covet, giving someone off-camera the privilege of lighting his smoke:
Once again, the inner monologue. We’re getting good at this now, so let’s see.
Perhaps:
“These two women I’ve asked to be by my side for the sake of this Don-Draper-esque shot we’re getting are fun collaborators, and we should have them on some more leaving-the-party projects in the future”?
Or even:
“This whole situation has gotten so meta that I can be photographed smoking, something that hasn’t been encouraged or appropriate since the actual Olsen Twins, and it’s all… fine?”
Back to Vanity Fair, and this one I’m fairly sure of, on Hudson’s part, anyway:
“If I just stand here forever, and don’t move on, eventually they’ll have to say they don’t need any more pictures. But they don’t want to say that because I’m mobile, and they aren’t. Let the games begin… okay, now I’m bored.”
By contrast, Connor seems to be less playing a game and more trying to make sure everyone gets the same face from him – keeping it consistent, you know. And Nadine and Robbie at the Elton John AIDS Foundation party are much easier to read.
But Hudson? Never tired, never bored, never intimidated? This is the man of a thousand faces and for each of them a million thoughts… and in the days from now until we see him next, he’ll be thinking of ten million ways to delight and confuse…
“Sexxxxxx.” “Oh!”
Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams attend the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Mark Guiducci at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on March 15, 2026 in Los Angeles
Katelyn Larson, Connor Storrie, and Hudson Williams attend the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Mark Guiducci at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on March 15, 2026 in Los Angeles
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