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Andrew Scott<\/a>\u00a0is adding music critic to his many list of accomplishments. In a conversation with\u00a0<\/span>Variety<\/em><\/a>\u00a0to promote his new Netflix series,\u00a0<\/span>Ripley<\/span><\/em>, the 47-year-old actor shares his enthusiastic review of\u00a0<\/span>Taylor Swift<\/a>‘s\u00a0latest album,\u00a0<\/span>The Tortured Poets Department<\/a><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n “Taylor’s new album is sensational! I texted her yesterday to say how amazing it is,” Scott says about the 34-year-old’s 11th studio album. “I think she is just a force of nature, just an extraordinary human, and this album is really, really amazing.”<\/span><\/p>\n The <\/span>Fleabag<\/span><\/em> star reveals that\u00a0“The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” is his favorite of the 31 songs on the record’s track listing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Scott claims Swift as a friend and says nothing to the fact that he’s also friends with someone highly rumored to be <\/span>one of the major sources of inspiration for Swift’s songs<\/a> —\u00a0<\/span>Joe Alwyn<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Alwyn, 33, was <\/span>involved with Swift’s music career when the two were together<\/a> — even <\/span>winning a GRAMMY Award as one of the writers on her 2020 album<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Folklore<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0The <\/span>longtime couple was together for six years<\/a>, from late 2016 to early 2023. ET\u00a0<\/span>broke the news\u00a0of their split<\/a>, with a source saying that the breakup was amicable and “not dramatic.” ET was told at the time that “the relationship had just run\u00a0its course.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Since\u00a0their split, the\u00a0<\/span>Conversations With Friends\u00a0<\/span><\/em>star\u00a0has kept a low profile and kept his distance from any <\/span>drama or speculation about Swift’s new songs<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n However, it’s hard to keep away from the speculation that Swift’s album title is inspired by a throwaway mention from a conversation between\u00a0Paul Mescal and Alwyn <\/span>during\u00a0a 2022 Variety Actors on Actors conversation<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n During the discussion, Alwyn\u00a0— who was dating Swift at the time — revealed that he was in a group chat with Mescal and Scott called “the Tortured Man Club.”\u00a0Scott, they said, had initiated the chat.<\/span><\/p>\n Scott is quick to clarify the story for <\/span>Variety<\/span><\/i>. He explains that he introduced Alwyn, whom he starred alongside in 2022’s\u00a0<\/span>Catherine Called Birdy<\/span><\/em>, to Mescal because the two were both starring in TV adaptations of Sally Rooney’s work: Alwyn would\u00a0star in\u00a0<\/span>Conversations With Friends\u00a0<\/span><\/em>and Mescal in\u00a0<\/span>Normal People.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n “So they were about to play these tortured characters, and I had played a tortured character in <\/span>Fleabag<\/span><\/em>. It wasn’t about our own characteristics,” Scott says. The\u00a0<\/span>Ripley\u00a0<\/span><\/em>star admits that the chat died quickly after it began, noting that it only involved three texts.\u00a0“You know those groups that you set up, and they just collapse.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While Scott is excited for his fans to <\/span>discover a new side of his work in Ripley<\/em><\/a>, a series based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955\u00a0crime novel\u00a0<\/span>The Talented Mr. Ripley,<\/span><\/em>\u00a0which inspired the 1999 film of the same name starring\u00a0<\/span>Matt Damon<\/a>, he doesn’t mind looking back at the projects that built the foundation of his career — particularly his role as the “Hot Priest” on\u00a0<\/span>Phoebe Waller-Bridge<\/a>‘s\u00a0<\/span>Fleabag.<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Scott stars in the second and final season of the beloved Prime Video series.\u00a0The series ends with Fleabag (Waller-Bridge) and The Priest (Scott) sitting on a bench waiting for a bus and confessing their feelings for one another. Fleabag confesses her love for The Priest and he tells her, “It’ll pass,” before adding, “I love you too,” and walking away.\u00a0<\/span>Fleabag<\/span><\/em>\u00a0ends the series by having her break the fourth wall one more time by smiling at the camera.<\/span><\/p>\n Telling <\/span>Variety\u00a0<\/span><\/em>that the “Hot Priest phenomenon” hasn’t hindered his career, Scott says he feels\u00a0“so proud of the process and the product.”<\/span><\/p>\n The actor doesn’t hesitate when asked if he’d return to a hypothetical third season if Waller-Bridge asked him to. “Of course I would,” he says. “But she’s not going to!”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Indeed, when\u00a0<\/span>Waller-Bridge emerged from the 2019 Emmys a winner<\/a> of several awards, including\u00a0<\/span>Outstanding Comedy Series<\/a>, she was <\/span>firm in her decision to leave the series’ end as is<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n “I mean, to be honest, this just feels like the most beautiful, beautiful way to say goodbye to it, actually,” Waller-Bridge said in the press room. “It does feel like the story is complete. … It’s so nice to hear that so many people loved it. I’m a bit like, ‘Aw, damn it, maybe she shouldn’t have waved goodbye at the end.’ But it does feel right. It feels right to go out on a high, and you can’t get higher than this.”<\/span><\/p>\n