The limited edition Looking photo biography book will be released October 17, but before the book hits shelves, we share an exclusive spread from inside—which reveals why the HBO series about gay men of today changed the life of star Jonathan Groff.

“This job has changed my life in so many ways,” reveals Groff. “I’ve never played a character that hit so close to the bone. It felt like an extension of myself taking place in the present. Trying to figure out what it means to be gay. Patrick and I are from the same generation of gay men so it has been so real for me. I had told Andrew of a break up I had where the other guy wanted to be in an open relationship—so he wrote that situation for Patrick and Kevin.”

Check out the full spread below.

Based on the HBO series, the book will be published as a hard-back limited edition with 1,000 numbered books worldwide and a foreword by Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin. Click here to pre-order the book.

The book also documents the filming of the finale movie. Read JONATHAN GROFF AND THE CAST OF LOOKING CHAT LOVE, DATING AND GROWING UP