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Tom Blyth says he’s intent on “keeping people guessing” with his next career moves as he explores more female-centred storytelling. The British actor, 30, was thrust into the global spotlight as young President Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and went on to lead the Western drama Billy The Kid, which is currently airing its final season. In the past two years, he has leaned into darker roles, from portraying a closeted undercover officer drawn to one of his targets in Plainclothes to a volatile inmate in the upcoming British prison thriller Wasteman. But after a run of emotionally-charged thrillers, Blyth said he wanted his next move to feel different. That led him to the much-anticipated film adaptation of Emily Henry’s hit novel People We Meet On Vacation, opposite Emily Bader, which lands on Netflix in January 2026. The rom-com follows the beloved “friends-to-lovers” trope, charting the decade-long bond between Poppy and Alex, who meet in college and take annual summer trips together — until a long-hinted-at incident during a holiday in Croatia changes everything. For Blyth, signing on felt like a conscious reset, admitting during the press run for Wasteman that his upcoming rom-com is “for the girls”. His shape-shifting career choices haven’t stopped at film. Blyth recently entered the world of audio erotica, joining the roster of celebrity narrators for Quinn — a platform that puts women’s pleasure at the centre of erotic storytelling. Quinn, founded in 2019, has attracted huge attention by releasing ‘Quinn Originals’ — exclusive narrative-led audio stories voice-acted by high-profile names. Those names have included Andrew Scott, Lucien Laviscount, Thomas Doherty, Jesse Williams, Victoria Pedretti, Katherine Moennig, Jamie Campbell Bower and most recently The Summer I Turned Pretty breakout star Chris Briney. It marks a notable pivot in an industry still largely shaped by the “male gaze”, especially in romance and intimacy-focused entertainment. Reflecting on his move into audio erotica, Blyth told The Standard: “I’m just trying to keep people guessing. I just don’t want to do the same thing twice.” Asked what draws him towards more female-centric projects, Blyth said the shift in storytelling power feels timely and necessary. “I think we've had the male gaze for decades, if not centuries,” he shared. “So I think, I think it's time that the girls got theirs, y’know? “I think it's popular because it is a bit of like a swing of the pendulum. It has been so much about the male gaze in art and music and film for years. “And now I think it's right that it swings the other way for a little while. Then I’m sure we’ll find a balance where it's the gaze for everything and everyone.” Blyth spoke to The Standard while at the BFI London Film Festival premiere for his film Wasteman, which he stars opposite Bafta Rising star winner David Jonsson and Alex Hassell. The film comes out next February. Reflecting on the film, he admitted that shaking off his character at the end of the day was often impossible. “I can’t always do it,” Blyth said. “Some nights I would go home, have a cup of tea and sit and watch some TV and I realised I was carrying Dee’s tension. I think he’s ultimately very fearful person even though he doesn’t show it. “He’s guarded because he doesn’t want to show his vulnerability and I definitely felt.” Adding: “The funny thing was I was going to set everyday with all this bravado Dee has and then when I got home and no one was looking I felt his fear and his vulnerability, which was kind of weird because on the page I thought he was just bravado and then I was like underneath all that is rawness that he’s hiding. I felt that at the end of every day.”
