Nathaniel Ross

**Nathaniel Josiah Ross** is a main character in *All the Wrong Kids*. He is portrayed by Jason Cunningham.

## Personality

Nathaniel is the laid-back, easygoing trickster of both Marshall Maddox Middle School and the high school of the same name.

## Personal views

Although he comes from a fairly devout religious family, Nathaniel himself is agnostic, and has been since he was in seventh grade. This occasionally puts him at conflict with his family, especially his deeply religious Jewish father, although his relationship with his family is ultimately strong despite Nathaniel not sharing their faith.

Nathaniel describes himself politically as a "social liberal and economic conservative" in the third season, and as a libertarian in season four.

Throughout the show, Nathaniel's views evolve quite a lot, largely due to his interactions with Candace. Throughout their eighth grade year, he looks down on Candace's feminist views, calling her "a crazy social justice monster" and criticising Candace's habit of, in his eyes, overreacting, or of going on social justice-related diatribes when it isn't completely relevant or necessary. However, Nathaniel's views begin to evolve in the second season as he begins to come to terms with his pansexual identity. Though he never calls himself a feminist, he does empathize with many of the arguments Candace makes regarding intersectional feminism in conversation with others, and occasionally works not to undermine Candace's message, but rather help her expression thereof.

## Relationships

### Jack Davis

Jack and Nathaniel are initially introduced as two thirds of the close friendship between Nathaniel, Jack and Luke Laurent. Over the course of their eighth grade year, their friendship begins to drift apart, though it is somewhat revived in the aftermath of the prank war Nathaniel, Jack and Luke initiate against Liesel, Finn, Percy, Candace and Anastasia when the three come to the conclusion that their friendship drifting apart doesn't necessarily mean that it has ended. Jack and Luke maintain a friendly relationship with Nathaniel throughout the rest of eighth grade and their high school years.

In "Bar Mitznah", it is revealed that Nathaniel and Jack had a short romantic engagement. Although Nathaniel's romantic feelings for Jack were genuine during this period, he is unsure whether Jack reciprocated those feelings to the same extent, as they were never officially boyfriends, it was Jack to break the relationship off, and the two almost never brought up their former relationship with one another after it was over. These three points, coupled with the fact that Jack only ever expressed and interest in and dated girls after their relationship, convince Nathaniel that Jack was straight.

### Ian Freeman

Ian and Nathaniel have been best friends since season one and maintain a strong platonic relationship throughout the series. The two are romantically attracted to one another since season one, first hinting at their feelings for one another in "Council", but do not pursue a romantic relationship with one another until "The Amazing Grace", when Ian comes out to Nathaniel as gay. The two subsequently reveal their feelings for one another and start dating, though they agree to keep it a secret. In "Kiss", after a picture of Nathaniel and Ian kissing and outs them to their school, Ian opts to ignore Nathaniel completely, communicating with him only once via text to end their relationship. Spurred on by Candace's ultimately unsuccessful investigation into who took the photo of them kissing ("The Candace Summerfield Case Files") and by Liesel's attempts to reach out to Ian on Nathaniel's behalf ("The Abel and Howard Experiment"), the two finally have a heart-to-heart in "Step by Step" after Ian sneaks out to Nathaniel's house after school. Once there, Ian explains that his deeply religious and socially conservative family are not accepting of Ian's homosexuality, seeing it as both sinful and its unmanly. Ian apologizes for giving Nathaniel the cold shoulder but explains that he has no choice. A forgiving Nathaniel kisses Ian on the spot in response, but the two agree not to take things any further.

In "Maddox Murder Mystery", though Nathaniel and Ian attend Mia's party with other partners (Nathaniel with Courtney, Ian with Karen), they are suspected of still harboring feelings for one another because of how affectionate they still are with one another. The two are briefly suspected of spiking Zane's drink in a joint plot to get back at Zane for possibly taking the picture that outed them, though both Nathaniel and Ian deny these claims. At the end of the night, Nathaniel tells Ian that he wants to move on from their relationship and pursue one with Courtney instead, which Ian respects.

### Courtney Reynolds

Courtney is mentioned in "Shark-Infested Waters" as one of the girls that Nathaniel has a short fling with during the summer between seasons one and two. Courtney is shown to openly dislike Nathaniel for his middle school antics in season one, but in season two the two appear to be on relatively good terms.

Following Nathaniel and Ian's outing, Courtney invites Nathaniel to Alphabet Soup, the LGBTQ+ group at school ("A Light in the Dark"). Courtney is the first person to whom Nathaniel comes out as pansexual ("Two Nerds and a Guy"). In "Maddox Murder Mystery", Nathaniel attends Mia's party with Courtney. Though the other attendees accuse Nathaniel and Ian of still having feelings for each other, Nathaniel assures Courtney that there is nothing going on between them. When Nathaniel and Ian are suspected of spiking Zane's drink, Courtney quickly comes to their defence. By the end of the night, she and Nathaniel agree to start a relationship.

Over time, Nathaniel becomes increasingly frustrated with Courtney's open distaste for his other friends. In "Fist Against the Wall", the two have a heated argument over blasé comments Courtney makes about Finn. These feelings are exacerbated when Nathaniel overhears Courtney calling Finn selfish in a conversation with Anastasia in the wake of Finn's suicide attempt ("Unhappy Holidays"). Courtney is hurt Nathaniel seeks support from Ian, Jack and Luke instead of her when Finn returns to school at the beginning of the spring semester ("It's All About the Money"). The two have a conversation about their inability to communicate with each other properly. In "Out of Sight, Out of Mind", the two go on a "brutally honest" date to test the compatibility of their communication styles. Though it starts off well, the date ends disastrously, and the two break it off for good, with Courtney accusing Nathaniel of still being hung up on Ian.

### Oliver Parrish

In "Oliver's Twist", Oliver, having recently come out as bisexual, approaches Nathaniel after an Alphabet Soup meeting to ask him for advice on how to hook up with guys. Nathaniel, eager to get back into the dating game following the end of his relationship with Ian, asks Oliver out on a date, to which Oliver accepts. The two go out to the movies together and later have sex. Nathaniel wakes up the next morning feeling nauseous,, and throws up due to this guilt-induced nausea. He considers breaking it off with Oliver, but when Oliver tells him that he had fun that night and that he feels even more affirmed in his sexuality, Nathaniel decides to hold it off. After Nathaniel rekindles his friendship with Ian in "When He Pops", he feels even guiltier about his relationship with Oliver, and in "Prom" he decides to break it off once and for all, pairing Oliver up with Ace so that he won't be alone at prom.

### Candace Summerfield

Originally, Nathaniel and Candace have a highly contentious relationship, referring to one another as "frenemies" at several points in the first season. However, by the end of the first season, the two appear to be on much better terms with each other.

## Trivia

* According to the results of a Pottermore quiz taken by Jason Cunningham took as the character, Nathaniel's Hogwarts house would be Hufflepuff.