People Magazine has just chosen Jonathan Bailey as the sexiest man alive in the year 2025. Them not going for the most boring and outdated pick imaginable is surprising enough already, but this choice in particular is great news for a few very different groups of people.
Bailey shot to stardom after playing Fiyero in the Wicked movie adaptation, then solidified that with a major role in the latest Jurassic World: Rebirth. Those are likely the main reasons for his award. Still, the truly important thing here is that he also played G'raha Tia, the Crystal Exarch, a Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn mage who got so popular that he got bigger roles in Shadowbringers and Dawntrail. Bailey also did voice work for games such as Anthem and Forza Horizon 2 before exploding in the live-action scene, but I'm guessing those probably didn't factor much into the result.
So, remember when gaming, anime, and especially the unholy cross between their two aesthetics got shunned by society at large as "unsexy"? Well, that's over. Or maybe the people at People magazine weren't thorough enough to realize Jonathan Bailey also played one of the most thirsted-over characters in Final Fantasy history, who also happens to be a cat boy. Either way, that door can no longer be closed now.
On a more serious note, this is actually a great pick for two main reasons. The first being that we're looking at the first openly gay man to win the prize. The second, as one wise Twitter user remarks, is how this is one of the few dudes to win the award while they're still sexy.
People has been dealing with this sort of criticism for a long time, and it's not about how older men cannot be sexy, but rather about how the magazine fails to react to trends and often ends up giving the award to guys no one under 50 cares much for anymore.
And sure, this is a silly contest. You can easily argue that sexiness is in the eye of the beholder. You can even more easily argue that the eyes of the people who'd picked Blake Shelton, or that guy who plays Jim in the office and shills for the CIA, and even late-stage Johnny Depp aren't beholding much. Still, I'm willing to turn a blind eye to all that for once. Let's celebrate Jonathan Bailey's Battle Royale victory against all other sexy men in this historic day for gamers, the LGBTQ community, and all lovers of cat-related stuff out there.
The post Final Fantasy cat boy is People’s sexiest man alive 2025 appeared first on Destructoid.
