Yahoo Movies ‘Queer as Folk’ Trailer: Gen X Classic Gets a Peacock Makeover, with Sex, Drugs, and Drag in New Orleans
The groundbreaking British series “Queer as Folk” flies over to Peacock for its third iteration ripe for a whole new generation.
Showrunner Stephen Dunn (“Closet Monster”), who also writes, directs, and executive produces the Peacock original series. Here the creator reimagines the beloved original show created by Russell T Davies to center on a group of diverse, unapologetically queer friends in New Orleans whose lies are transformed in the aftermath of a tragedy. Watch the first trailer below.
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The original British series ran for two seasons from 1999 to 2000. “Queer As Folk” later was revived in the U.S. on Showtime with a five-season run from 2000 to 2005. Dunn called the series his “awakening,” and while the Peacock show is not a reboot, the all-queer writing team uses the original show as inspiration.
The cast includes Devin Way as Brodie, a commitment-phobe who finds a reason to stay in New Orleans after tragedy rocks his community; Fin Argus plays confident, gender-fluid high schooler Mingus; and Jesse James Keitel is Ruthie, a trans, semi-reformed party girl who is struggling to grow up.
The ensemble adds CG as a non-binary professor navigating the rocky transition from punk to parenthood, and Johnny Sibilly as a successful lawyer (and Brodie’s ex) grappling with demons of his own. Actor, writer, and co-executive producer Ryan O’Connell (“Special”) also plays Julian, Brodie’s pop culture nerd brother who has cerebral palsy.
Kim Cattrall plays Julian and Brodie’s faded southern belle mother whose high society debutante lifestyle is thrown into disarray. Juliette Lewis also stars as Mingus’ encouraging single mother, who is more of a friend than a parent to her teenager.
“The show is going to be divisive — and it has to be,” creator Dunn told The Hollywood Reporter. “None of our characters are perfect and they’re constantly shifting and making difficult, selfish decisions or mistakes. We want to let them do that because that’s what we let Don Draper and Tony Soprano do. We’ve had so many anti-heroes, but we rarely get to see the kind of diversity that we have in this show. We rarely get to see those people depicted in a way that includes their flaws.”
The “inherently political” “Queer as Folk” centers on a Pulse-like nightclub shooting in a New Orleans gay bar and captures how the LGBTQ+ community rebuilds itself. Real-life Pulse survivors served as consultants on the series.
“We had to break new ground in order to tell the story and to make it relevant because we have our own generation’s things to say. We have a new story,” Dunn said of the reimagining.
Writer Jaclyn Moore serves as executive producer, along with Lee Eisenberg, Emily Brecht, original British series creator Russell T. Davies, Nicola Shindler, and Louise Pedersen on behalf of All3 Media International, which distributes the format and the original British series produced by Red Productions for Channel 4.
The Peacock series is also executive produced and directed by Brian Dannelly.
“Queer As Folk” premieres June 9 on Peacock.
Check out the trailer below.
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