“It’s 2019, after all. Trans actors need to be playing trans characters, and that’s the tea”
BY ELEANOR NOYCE
January’s announcement about The L Word reboot sparked excitement in the LGBTQI community. Watching The L Word, or hiding the DVDs under the bed, was a rite of passage for the baby queers of the noughties. Many lez/bi women will remember this time well. It’s wild to think that in 20 years, baby lez/bi women might not have heard of The L Word. Wild.
The reboot has already impressed us, DIVAs. The original show was praised for having a trans male character but criticised for having a cis female actor play him. With this in mind, the reboot has already excelled itself in revealing that, this time around, there’ll be space for two trans male characters which will be played by trans male actors. Even better – a casting call has revealed that one of the characters will be Asian, so there’s plenty of representation going on here. Kudos, L Word, kudos.
Die hard L Word fans: fear not. Jennifer Beals (Bette), Katherine Moennig (Shane) and Leisha Hailey (Alice) are all confirmed to keep their roles. This said, change is good, DIVAs. The reboot is looking promising: correcting the issues with representation the first time around is a good step forward. The new cast is set to be more diverse, and this will, inevitably justly increase representation for minority groups. It’s 2019, after all. In my opinion, trans actors need to be playing trans characters, and that’s the tea.
Twitter’s reaction to the casting calls has been overwhelmingly positive:
@shawlesbian lost it:
Wig.
…and @artofstumbling made a very valid point about the connections between lesbians and trans men:
This reboot is looking promising, DIVAs. We’re absolutely elated.
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