NEED TO KNOW
Mason Thames is opening up about his new title as PEOPLE’s Sexiest New Heartthrob.
The 18-year-old actor earned the recognition in the Sexiest Man Alive 2025 Readers’ Choice Poll, edging out fellow up-and-coming hunks Joseph Zada, Michael Cooper Jr. and Ashby Gentry. During an exclusive interview with PEOPLE to promote his latest film, the horror-thriller Black Phone 2, Thames revealed if he checks his DMs since achieving official heartthrob status.
“I don’t check my DMs. Like, I don’t really check my DMs, but I mean, yeah, there’s probably been some crazy stuff. Yeah,” he admits with a laugh.
Thames jokes that his reaction to PEOPLE — and fans — recognizing him with the title was, “Hell yeah. As you should be.”
“Thank you, guys. I don’t know who voted, but I appreciate it,” he adds.
Thames also shared how his friends reacted to the news.
“I had so many of my friends text me about it, and they were all making fun of me. It was like, ‘Oh, they’re a big guy, whatever, sexy,’ ” he says.
Jessica Miglio / Paramount Pictures
Elsewhere in his conversation with PEOPLE, Thames spoke about starring in the much-anticipated movie Regretting You, based on the Colleen Hoover novel of the same name. He plays teenager Miller Adams, who becomes romantically involved with classmate Clara Grant, played by actress McKenna Grace, with whom Thames has a close friendship in real life and has even sparked romance rumors.
Thames says he “always wanted” to do a movie like Regretting You because he’s a big fan of the classic 2004 romantic drama The Notebook.
“The Notebook, to me, is one of the best romance movies of all time, and it kind of sets the highest bar. So I always wanted to do something like that,” he explains. “And the fact I got to do it with McKenna … she’s such a fantastic actress. Like, seeing her on-screen is different than watching her do her thing.”
“She’s the closest person to me,” he continues. “So getting to do that with her was really, really special.”
Fred Norris/Universal Pictures; Universal
Thames’ latest role in Black Phone 2 marks a full-circle moment for the actor, as he first starred in the original 2021 movie, The Black Phone, at age 13. He reprises his role as Finney in the sequel.
He says that since the sequel has been released, friends have been sending him “stuff of my 13-year-old self,” prompting him to remark to himself, “God, I was so tiny, I was so little.”
Thames also reflected on how much has changed for him since shooting The Black Phone, his very first feature film, as a young teen — and how it was “a surreal experience” stepping into Finney’s shoes once again.
“It’s crazy ’cause it’s been five years since I filmed that movie and just coming back so much has changed, you know, as an actor and obviously as a person. So getting to bring life experiences into Finney in this because he definitely is a very complicated character, and to me that’s always the most fun and most challenging because you really wanna break down that character and get to the core of it,” he says.
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Thames continues: “And the core of Finney was just, you know, that kid from the first movie, now covered by this shell of the trauma of what happened to him. So it was a surreal experience coming back to him.”
Black Phone 2 is now available to buy or rent at home.
