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'The Time Traveler's Wife' star Theo James jokes his smoldering physique had help: 'It's all lighting and CGI'

James also shed light on the wig he wore while playing his 28-year-old version. 'The wig makes me look vaguely OK,' he remarked

'The Time Traveler's Wife' star Theo James is the cynosure of all eyes after the series premiere of the HBO drama. The six-episode series, starring the 'Divergent' actor and Rose Leslie in lead roles is a part-romance, part sci-fi drama where James has the ability to time travel. What impressed fans and had them talking apart from the storyline was James' impressive physique for the role. On his part, the 37-year-old just joked about it saying it was "It's all lighting and CGI."

The series shows James' character Henry in various stages of his life and his chiseled frame is distinctly visible between the 28-36 age period where he's shown to be jumping across time and landing naked wherever he pops up. "Yeah, you see every inch of me," he said in an interview with USA Today. Despite the solid swooning on Twitter, he insisted that he hadn't done anything special transformation-wise. "I just wanted him to look lean and mean," he opined while also joking that his musculature was helped by special effects.

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James also shed light on the wig he wore while playing his 28-year-old version. "The wig makes me look vaguely OK," says James, "My long hair was much worse. I had my passport picture taken then with the hair and a mustache. The customs agent wanted to know if it was a mug shot. I looked criminal." The outlet added that he had actually tried growing his hair for the role, but it looked out of sorts, upsetting his actress wife Ruth Kearney. "She hated it," he said. "I looked ridiculous for months."

The first episode was received well by fans who were lavish in their praise for James and Leslie. "I loved it and can’t wait for next week. #TheoJames was fantastic, #TheTimeTravelersWife on @hbomax hit a home run IMO," one of the fans opined. "Thank you @HBO for bringing me more #TheoJames I’m saying now I’m super worried how he paused on 9/11 when looking at dates is that how the shows going to end," another remarked. One fan said: "I’m baffled as to why HBO remade The Time Traveler’s Wife into a show but honestly the first episode was great and I’m here for seeing Theo James butt naked every three seconds."

'The Time Traveler's Wife' airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on HBO.