Every week, The GLAAD Wrap brings you LGBTQ-related entertainment news highlights, fresh stuff to watch out for, and fun diversions to help you kick off the weekend.
1.) The official trailer for Strange World has been released, featuring a gay teen co-lead! The adventure-comedy introduces a legendary family of explorers, the Clades, who overcome their differences while exploring a strange, wondrous, and oftentimes hostile world. Out actor and comedian Jaboukie Young-White plays gay 16-year-old Ethan, who longs for adventure and has a crush on teen heartthrob Diazo. Check out the trailer below and watch Strange World in theaters November 23!
2.) The musical drama On the Come Up, featuring queer actor Miles Gutierrez-Riley, has been released on Paramount+ and select theaters today! Based on the novel by bestselling author Angie Thomas, the film follows Bri (Jamila C. Gray), a 16-year-old who wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time in order to lift up her family and do right by her late father, a local hip hop legend whose career was cut short due to gang violence. Check out the trailer below!
3.) The documentary film and photo art project Wonderfully Made premieres tomorrow at the Out On Film Atlanta Film Festival! The film marks the first of a planned docu-series LGBTQ+R(eligion) and explores the challenges and aspirations of LGBTQ Catholics in the face of the Church’s formal rejection of their identities. By out creators Yuval David and Mark McDermott, Wonderfully Made features interviews with leading advocates, including Father Bryan Massingale, the only publicly gay, African American, Catholic priest in the country, and behind-the-scenes footage of the creation of photographic iconography depicting Jesus in solidarity with the LGBTQ community. Watch the trailer below!
4.) Out actor Harvey Guillén has been cast in Comedy Central’s original movie Cursed Friends, premiering October 8. The film follows four thirty-something childhood friends who wake up after a Halloween reunion to realize that a predict-your-future game of M.A.S.H. from 2002 is starting to come true in their real lives. The crew must work together to escape their wild fates, from having 100 children with the hometown loser to leading a cult!
EXCLUSIVE: Nicole Byer, Harvey Guillén, Jessica Lowe, and Andrew Lewis Caldwell will lead the ensemble cast of Comedy Central’s original movie ‘Cursed Friends’ from Propagate and Will Arnett’s Electric Avenuehttps://t.co/URmR9qR75l
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) September 20, 2022
5.) Hulu has released a first-look teaser of the upcoming dark comedy Welcome to Chippendales, premiering on the streamer November 22. The true-crime limited series follows Somen “Steve” Banerjee (Kumail Nanjiani), the socially awkward founder of Chippendales, the world’s greatest male-stripping empire. Out Emmy Award-winning actor Murray Bartlett plays producer-choreographer Nick De Nioa, who helps Banerjee expand Chippendales from a seedy West LA venture into a global phenomenon. The star-studded cast also includes Robin de Jesús as Ray Colon, a Nuyorican handyman from the Bronx, and Andrew Rannells as a privileged rich kid from the city who becomes De Nioa’s love interest. In more Hulu news, FX’s coming-of-age comedy Reservation Dogs has been renewed for a third season ahead of its season two finale September 28! With acclaimed trans Navajo filmmaker Sydney Freeland and queer Kahnawàke Mohawk actress Devery Jacobs in the all-Native writers room, the critically-acclaimed series follows the exploits of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma. The third season is expected to be released in 2023 excusively on Hulu!
6.) Hulu has released the official trailer for Huluween Dragstravaganza, launching October 1. In the special, two world-famous drag superstars, Ginger Minj and Monét X Change, are trapped in the TV– and the only way out is to host a wild drag variety show! Dragstravaganza also features special musical guest Kesha, out drag performers Mo Heart, Jujubee, Manila Luzon, Landon Cider, and much more. Watch the trailer below! In other drag news, Out TV’s reality competition series Call Me Mother has cast a new generation of drag queens, kings, and non-binary artists for its sophmore season. Returning house mothers Peppermint, Crystal, and Barbada de Barbades and host Dallas Dixon welcome 15 new drag superstars to compete for a year’s worth of Rimmel cosmetic supplies and Wella hair products, a seven-night vacation in Mexico, and the chance to become the face of Wella at Toronto’s 2023 pride event! Check out the full list of stars here and watch Call Me Mother season two October 26 on all OutTV channels.
7.) Starz has released the official trailer for the third season of hit drama series Step Up, out on October 16. Inspired by the Lionsgate film franchise, the series follows the drama, scandalous romances, betrayals, and rivalries of the students and faculty at Atlanta’s most cutthroat performing arts school. In the upcoming season, out actor Keiynan Lonsdale has been recast as Tal, the queer lead dancer for a massive tour. Find the trailer below!
8.) Out Emmy-winning actress Sarah Paulson has been set to star and executive produce the HBO Max scripted adaptation of its docuseries The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin. Paulson plays the titular Shamblin, the infamous leader of the Remnant Fellowship Church who was accused of abuse and exploitation for the organization’s alleged cult-like practices. While the first half of the series explores the legacy of Shamlin, the second half examines the mysterious circumstances and aftermath surrounding the plane crash that killed Shamblin and her husband, which occurred midway through HBO’s initial docuseries The Way Down, through new stories from former survivors. In more casting news, Netflix’s critically-acclaimed queer coming-of-age series Heartstopper has announced new additions to their season two ensemble, including Leila Khan as student Sahar Zahid, Jack Barton as main character Nick’s older brother David, Bradley Riches as student James McEwan, and Nima Taleghani as the teacher Mr. Farouk. As the show enters production in the UK, the lead cast from season one returns with out actress Yasmin Finney as trans student Elle, out actor Joe Locke as gay student Charlie, out actor Kizzy Edgell as lesbian student Darcy, and more! Additionally, queer singer-songwriter FLETCHER has been added to the cast of The L Word: Generation Q season three, alongside previously announced out stars Margaret Cho and Jamie Clayton!
Sarah Paulson is attached to star and executive produce the scripted adaptation of “The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin,” which HBO Max is developing from its own five-part docuseries.https://t.co/qRSqXcR2rG
— Variety (@Variety) September 19, 2022
9.) Out GLAAD Media Award-winning pop icon Lil Nas X has released the music video to League of Legends Worlds 2022 official anthem “STAR WALKIN”; watch it below! Jack Rabbit, a queer indie folk duo, has released a video for their new single “Flatlining”. Watch the official music video here! In more music video news, Mothé, the dynamic indie-pop project conceived of by non-binary artist Spencer Fort, has shared the video for their single “photobooth”; stream the song here and watch the video here! Additionally, non-binary interdisciplinary artist Rio Romeo has released their new gender-neutral EP Good God. Stream it here!
10.) Out actor, comedian, and producer Sean Hayes has been set to return to Broadway this spring, starring in out Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright’s new play Good Night, Oscar. Hayes plays Hollywood Golden Age actor and pianist Oscar Levant, who is a guest star on Jack Paar’s The Tonight Show in 1958. Good Night, Oscar begins performances at the Belasco Theatre on April 7, 2023, and an official opening is set for April 24 through August 27; buy your tickets here! In other news, Viva Editions and Simon & Schuster have announced a January 2023 release of the memoir Call Me Anne, the sequel to the late out actress Anne Heche’s first biography. The novel consists of personal anecdotes of Heche’s rise to fame, including accounts of her relationship with Ellen Degeneres and her journey to self-love.