Peacock is rebooting Queer as Folk for the modern age, and this time around, the drama is more about real-life messes than fantastical escapades. Watch the trailer for the series, which drops June 9th, below.
Creator, executive producer, writer, and director Stephen Dunn took the reins from original series creator Russell T. Davies for this iteration of Queer as Folk, which is set not in 1999 Manchester, but 2022 New Orleans — “one of the most unique queer communities in North America,” the writer said in a statement. Subsequently, the updated series is much more diverse and much more willing to tackle the nuances of LGBTQ life.
To that end, the series’ trailer depicts a group of friends — Brodie (Devin Way), Mingus (Fin Argus), Ruthie (Jesse James Keitel), Shar (CG), Noah (Johnny Sibilly), and Julian (Ryan O’Connell) — who attempt to cope after a shooting occurs in their local night club. Davies lent his support to the reboot’s dramatic reinterpretation in a statement, proclaiming, “I’m very proud of what we achieved in 1999, but in queer years, that was a millennium ago! As a community, we’ve radicalized, explored, opened up, and found new worlds — with new enemies and new allies — and there was so much to be said. Stephen pitched a brand new version of Queer as Folk with so much imagination, insight, and crucially, joy, that I simply couldn’t resist. I thought it was about time the title belonged to a whole new generation. The 2022 show is more diverse, more wild, more free, more angry — everything a queer show should be.”
Writer and executive producer Jaclyn Moore echoed the importance of depicting well-rounded queer characters. “I believe deeply in the power of storytelling to make people feel seen, but all too often I feel as though queer and trans representation in art is limited to extremes,” she said. “We are either shown as saintly heroes bravely surviving a bigoted society or two-dimensional queer-coded villains that feel airdropped in from some previous era. With Queer as Folk, we aimed to depict queer characters who live in the messy middle. People who are complicated. Who are funny and caring and flawed and sometimes selfish, but still worthy of love. Still worthy of narrative. As a trans woman, I’m excited to take steps to move past telling stories that seem to just be arguing for our basic humanity. My hope is that Queer as Folk is one such step.”
In addition to the main cast, Kim Cattrall and Juliette Lewis also appear in Queer as Folk, portraying the equally messy relatives of the community’s core characters. Soak in the drama below.
