Brendan Dooling's Walt is still figuring out who he is, including his sexuality.

The adult Carrie Bradshaw of HBO's Sex and the City was very in touch with the gay world thanks in part to BFF Stanford Blatch. Does the high school version of Carrie on the new CW series The Carrie Diaries have a similar sidekick? Sort of. Meet Walt Reynolds. Walt takes on the role of Carrie's eighties era gay BFF…though he's probably not out of the closet even to himself yet.

Amy B. Harris, who developed The Carrie Diaries for television (and also wrote on SATC), explained to AfterElton that having a gay element to the series was reflective of the time in which the series is set. “I really wanted to be true to the period,” she said. “That struggle of growing up and thinking, ‘Oh, I'm not going to get married like my parents and live in the suburbs.’ How do you come to terms with all of those changes? And then adding in the AIDS epidemic? It's a pretty scary time to be figuring out who you are, if you're Walt. I think that's an amazing opportunity that I want to treat with the respect that it deserves.”

We sat down with the actor who plays Walt, Brendan Dooling at the recent Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour. We wanted to get his impression of the character, how long it will take Walt to figure out he’s gay, and what the actor is personally loving from the eighties era.

AfterElton: What kind of conversations did you have the producers on how to play Walt and what his journey was going to be?

Brendan Dooling: Originally I read for Sebastian in the audition. My call back was for Walt and from the very beginning I’m proud to say they liked what I had to bring to the table and they didn’t ask me to make a lot of adjustments. They liked the sensitive, vulnerable, introverted way I’d been playing it, and that was obviously what they were looking for. I had auditioned against others [for the role] and they might have been a little more effeminate, and I don’t think they wanted to go for that outright. There weren’t a lot of conversations on how to play Walt, just where Walt was going, and that helped a lot.

BFFs Carrie Bradshaw (AnnaSophia Robb) and Walt (Dooling) in The Carrie Diaries

AE: In the beginning of the series, Walt hasn’t quite figured out his sexuality and even has a girlfriend, who he hasn’t slept with yet. How long does that go on?

BD: We’re on episode eight or nine and he hasn’t figured anything out. It’s like building blocks to a very big realization. So he might get another girlfriend, ya know? He might meet a guy that he might have an attraction to, but he doesn’t know that, you know what I mean?

AE: Do you think it’s something where everyone else will figure it out before he does?

BD: It’s interesting. Not everybody. Some people are privy to it. As I said, he’s not flamboyant, he’s not very effeminate, he does have that edge to him, but he can also carry himself like a young man and be attractive to young women. But I think everybody is going to know before him.

AE: We see a bit in the pilot where he’s looking at the Rob Lowe magazine cover. Are those some little nods that we’ll see coming forward?

BD: Right. And not jumping my girlfriend’s bones and sort of avoiding it. People will say “yeah, I know what’s going on.’

Walt with his now-ex, Maggie (Kate Findlay) and friend Jill (Ellen Wong)

AE: Does Carrie – or somebody else – become someone Walt is able to lean on when he starts dealing with his feelings?

BD: I don’t want to reveal too much because when I read the script, the person that I finally confide in, it’s a surprise. But there is definitely…like I said, we’re on episode eight and only now have I been a little bit open about this question mark that is looming.

AE: What did you know about the 80s before you joined the show? Were you aware of the music and fashion?

BD: Definitely, my sister was born in ’83 and my mother was very trendy with what’s hot and what’s not in the 70s and 80s so I grew up watching The Goonies and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. When someone said ‘parachute pants’ I knew where they came from.

AE: Has there been anything that you’ve come across in the show like music or fashion that you were really blown away by?

BD: Perry Ellis sweaters! They came out in the 80s and he’s making another run now, which I thought was very funny, the timing of it all. Walt is very well-dressed. He knows what he’s doing. It’s not my style, but I do like a lot of the selections that they give Walt.

Dooling said Walt will start to figure out he's gay...and turn to someone unexpected.

AE: If this were the 80s, it would be a much bigger deal for an actor to play a gay role. Are you aware of that?

BD: Absolutely. You still field the question ‘You’re playing a gay character. Are you gay?’ It’s expected, but it’s not as defined as it was in the 80s because it was almost like being gay was a personality in itself…but now it’s a different color of that particular sexual discovery, which is cool and I’m glad that it’s not as cliché, as you could say. It’s a nice relief, but you still get it, you won’t escape it, but it’s not something I’m worried about…I am straight and it’s been very interesting playing this character. It’s fun and it’s been a very cool challenge.

AE: Did you have any gay friends growing up where you might have seen what Walt might be going through?

BD: Oh yeah, I was a young thespian and came from musical theater and did most of the shows in high school and there are definitely comparisons I can make and draw from just in terms of something simple like getting really excited about a pair of shoes, and that’s Walt to the nth degree! And then it goes even bigger, like everybody talking about my friend behind his back, not that they’re saying anything mean but just saying that something’s there that he’s not admitting yet. So, there’s definitely things.

AE: Coming from theater and now you’re doing TV, any acting idols that you know jump between those two worlds?

BD: Oh yeah. Death of a Salesman just left Broadway and Brian Cox, I wouldn’t say I idolize anybody, but that is a career I would certainly love to emulate. Coming from theater and having so much success in film and being able to get back to your roots. I’ve noticed now from doing the show that I love what I’m doing, but TV might not be where my heart lies. So I would like to do some theater sooner rather than later.

The Carrie Diaries airs Mondays at 8pm on the CW.