The Last Two Minutes of The Last Tycoon's Premiere Are a Game Changer

The Last Tycoon,Amazon's streaming pilot based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's last novel, hits all the notes required of a period piece set in Hollywood's golden era. There's glitzy fashion, polished sets and an all-star cast including Kelsey Grammer and Lily Collins. The themes are standard fare, too -- the depression is sad and Nazis are bad.

However, it's the final scene that foreshadows a radical change for the series--and lead star Matt Bomer, who may have found the role to break out of his White Collar nice guy image.

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Bomer plays Monroe Stahr, a prolific Hollywood producer in the 1930s trying to get the bio-pic based on his deceased wife made despite objections from German Nazi studio shareholders. After spending the majority of the first hour convincing us that Stahr is a level-headed, morally sound golden boy, the final scene reveals that Stahr has a tantalizing dark side along with having an affair with his boss' wife, Rose Brady (Rosemarie DeWitt).

It's not the affair that's scandalous. In multiple scenes, we learn that Stahr doesn't get angry. He doesn't yell at his production staff for unfinished sets or lose his cool when someone breaks his dead wife's vase. He doesn't even raise his voice when Nazis want to shut down the film that's turned into his life's passion because it's "offensive to the German people."

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What changes the game is when he tells Rose the affair has to end. "It can't. I hate everything else," she replies before she drapes herself across his bed, "Does that make you angry?" The question prompts Stahr's face to turn cold as he serves her a terse, "Yes," and closes the bedroom curtains. Suddenly a darker, more mysterious -- and yes -- sexier character has emerged. Are they about to fight? Is this series about to become an S&M-drenched tale of lust set against a pre-WWII backdrop? What else have we been lead to believe about Monroe Stahr that's a complete lie? We need more!

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Or at least we hope we'll get to see the rest of the series. The show is part of Amazon's pilot testing process that allows Amazon Prime users to vote on what will become the service's next original series. Users have 30 days from June 17 to vote for The Last Tycoon if they want to see more. If you're equally intrigued to see how dark the show will go, you'll need to vote to get it picked up to series.

The Last Tycoon was released on June 17.