Nicholas Braun’s Dating History Is Fascinating And Relatable

Cousin Greg is lovable, sure, but he’s got nothing on the real-life Nicholas Braun. An actor, writer, and musician, Braun is arguably best known for his Emmy-nominated performance as the Roys’ bumbling cousin on HBO’s Succession (the hit show’s third season comes out Oct. 17). He’s also played boyfriends in movies ranging from dramedy Zola to rom-com How To Be Single. And adorably, in July 2020, he wrote a punk-pop anthem about dating during lockdown — it was aptly titled “Antibodies (Do You Have The)” and quickly went viral. But who is Nicholas Braun dating right now? (And, if he is dating someone, do we think they have the antibodies?) Let’s discuss.

Braun is a relatively private guy (even bashful, some might say), and he hasn’t publicly discussed being in a relationship. He has, however, opened up about his dating adventures and woes in a few recent interviews.

Ahead of Succesion’s Season 3, he told the New York Times that he’s “fascinated by romance and courting another human,” having never “really been in a long-term relationship, ever” himself. In a June interview with The Cut, Braun also shared that — much like his Succession character — he’s no stranger to the feeling of being blinded by love, of being deeply infatuated with (and eventually ghosted by) a person who’s emotionally unavailable to you.

Specifically, Braun said he’s been in situations “where you’re like, ‘God, what can I do to make this girl care more about me? What can I do to feel better in this relationship?’ I don’t feel like I have power or leverage at all. I’m the one trying to get something, get a text back or get a call back or anything.”

(Whew, boy, same.)

Braun was also, famously, a bit wary of dating in 2020. That fall, he told Bustle that romance was "the trickiest part” of lockdown after going on a masked date with a woman who’d slid into his Instagram DMs earlier that year.

“It's interesting going on dates with bandanas on, with masks on, and [realizing] all the normal stuff where you might sit close to each other at a restaurant, you might put your arm around them or something, that all of that is gone until date three, four, until you feel like OK, I can get close to this person, and they can get close to me," he said. "There’s a new fear of human contact, so it just changes it, which I think is really interesting. It sort of forces you to get to know somebody better before you go in for a hug... or something more."

The experience inspired him to write and perform “Antibodies (Do You Have The)” in July 2020 — a song to which pretty much the entire internet could relate.

All of that said, not much is known about the specific women Braun has dated. While filming and promoting How To Be Single back in 2016, some fans wondered if he and co-star Dakota Johnson were an item, but it seems the two were nothing more than good pals with sizzling on-screen chemistry.

“I would play [Johnson’s] boyfriend in any movie,” Braun told Backstage at the time. “I love her as a person. I love working with her. I feel like we found a lot of nice little moments [on film], and sometimes it doesn’t come as easy. But with her, it really does.”

These days, though, Braun appears to be more focused on bringing modern dating to film than dabbling in that world himself. He’s set to play the (arguably creepy) suitor in the film adaptation of Kristen Roupenian’s short story “Cat Person,” and he’s also been working on writing some scripts of his own, including a “relationship traumedy” and a “social horror movie” about a competitive dating show.

We can’t wait to see what the future has in store — both romantically and cinematically — for Braun.