Actor, comedian, and writer Brian Jordan Alvarez is known for many things including his roles on TV like Will & Grace and the horror feature M3GAN, but with English Teacher getting critical acclaim, Alvarez is opening a new chapter in his career.
Created by Alvarez, English Teacher premiered on FX on September 2 with guns blazing (seriously, there is an episode about gun control). Alvarez stars as Evan Marquez, a gay high school teacher in Austin, Texas. As one of the most progressive people in a liberal-leaning but mostly conservative school, he is on a comedic battleground regarding personal, professional, and political aspects of working at Morrison-Hensley High.
At school, he is joined by his BFF Gwen Sanders played by Stephanie Koenig, the eager and optimistic history teacher who tends to see the best in people, even when she probably shouldn’t. There’s also the gym teacher Markie Hillridge played by Sean Patton who is gruff, hetero, and a bit abrasive but he is ultimately a gun-toting teddy bear.
The series features Enrico Colantoni as the Principal Grant Moretti — who is always searching for the path of least resistance. Carmen Christopher plays Guidance Counselor and stoner Rick who barely wants to be at work.
Rounding out the cast is Evan’s “ex/boyfriend” and former Morrison-Hensley high teacher Malcolm played by Jordan Firstman and a new teacher that piques Evan’s interest Harry played by Langston Kerman.
Over the eight-episode season which includes needle drops of ’80s hits like “Come Go With Me” by Exposé, “Eternal Flame” by The Bangles, and “Maniac” from the movie Flashdance (Alvarez has an affinity for ’80s music), we see Evan go on a high school journey with a hearty helping of comedy and battle of the Gen Z v. Millennial v. Gen X wiles. We also are treated to RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars winner Trixie Mattel playing the character Shazam, one of Evan’s friends who teaches football players how to become the perfect drag queen for the annual Powderpuff Football Game.
“I grew up in very, very rural Tennessee, which is where I am right now,” Alvarez admitted during his interview with GLAAD. “But I went to high school in a very nearby town here — just up a mountain in a highly liberal pocket. It’s because it was a college town, — very liberal in the more in the broader conservative Tennessee.
“To me, Austin is a version of that where it’s this blue city in this red state,” he continued. This would serve as an inspiration for the series. “There was so much to write for… there’s just all these different attitudes and perspectives and seeing people get along, not get along, agree, not agree — that to me is good soil for comedy.
Read our interview with Alvarez below.
How long was the idea for English Teacher in your head before you started putting your creative energy into it?
That’s a great question…actually, it wasn’t long at all. Paul Simms, who is such a great producer and writer, is also good at finding voices that haven’t gotten a big platform yet. He did this with Atlanta and Donald Glover, who is so brilliantly talented. Paul went through that process with him. Similarly, for me, he came to me and had seen some of my online work, and he said, “Let’s make something together.”
That was such an exciting call, because I had plenty of meetings in Hollywood, and I’d even tried to get things made but it was different. People are sort of saying, “Well, you know, let’s see what we can do.” This was Paul. He really gets things done and he’s been through it so many times. He did News Radio back in the day, which I grew up on and loved, and then he was heavily involved in Girls. He does What We Do in the Shadows and he’s just a real.
At the time, I had just done three years on Will & Grace, and Max Mutchnick was so amazing. And the whole cast are wonderful people — I had the best time doing Will & Grace, and then I booked M3GAN, so when Paul called me, I said, “Look, I’ve got this M3GAN movie coming up, and I’m acting mostly now.” And he really said, “No, I think I think we should do this. I think we should make something together.” He sort of said to me “You’re coming out of retirement” as a writer or creator.
How did that feel?
It was a very moving thing. It’s what you always want in life — somebody coming to you and saying, “Hey, I know that you maybe don’t feel like you can do it, but you can do it, and I believe in you.” It’s a powerful thing and he’s a special person to have.
Within all this how was English Teacher born?
In the next few days, I came up with a show about a high school in Austin. I had been spending a lot of time in Austin, and I was really falling in love with it. I wrote it because I was hoping we could shoot in Austin, only to find out several years later that was not in the cards but maybe someday.
My mom is a Spanish instructor at a university. My sister is a media arts teacher. So it’s sort of in my blood. It’s almost like when people say, “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV”.
How has the reaction to the show been — especially within different age groups?
I do know the show has been blowing up on TikTok. People send me just random clips that have gone viral — like the part about asymptomatic Tourette’s or fan cams of different characters. I have been happy with the big spread of ages of people that really are enjoying the show. People will say, “Oh my gosh, I watched this with my mom and my grandma, and we were all laughing, and we usually don’t like the same stuff”, so I was I loved that.
In the series, your character, Evan is the most progressive one in the school and is often used as such. In one scene the gym teacher Markie brings you into his class to explain what non-binary is because he is gay — with all his students ready to film you with their phones.
We’re kind of just making fun of people in general, and how people are… we’re all trying to figure it out. Most people are trying to do their best and we’re funny in that process — especially a teacher who’s trying to say the right thing in this exact way, and they know they’re being filmed. There’s so much comedy there.
There are so many school-based series like Welcome Back Kotter, Saved by the Bell, Boy Meets World, Glee, Popular, and Abbott Elementary that have left their mark on TV. What is the legacy you hope English Teacher leaves in the TV world?
I just hope that it’s a show that people love and can’t get enough of. My favorite compliment for the show is when people say, “I watch the episodes three times in a row because there’s not a new one yet so I just keep watching the ones you’ve already released.” To me, rewatchability is such a thing. I think we’re all like this. I watch my favorite things again and again. I’ve watched the movie Prometheus like probably 100 times. I think it’s a perfect movie — also All About My Mother by Pedro Almodovar — and Dirty Dancing!
Where would you like to see LGBTQ storytelling go in film and TV?
As an artist, if I tell stories in a way that is not only authentic and feels real — especially with this sho — then that to me, is the best thing I can offer the world. I am always hoping to make positive changes. I hope the show is making a positive impact.
I think a lot about what I love about the show when I see it, I say “This is funny”. We have people that are on us about going funnier, funnier. I’m so grateful to them, because, as a writer, sometimes you start to say, “Well, this could go a little more dramatic and a little more dramatic, and then suddenly you’re in a drama.
Shining a light on characters like these, and doing it with hard comedy is something that I’m so grateful to get to offer the world. And the response has been amazing. I’m so grateful to play this part and it just means a lot to me. I got to show up and play Evan; this gay man who’s doing his best and I love the character, the show, and all the characters. I love Gwen — and, you know, I love the unexpected friendship between Markie and Evan. I think that that really means something to people. I love how Evan is in and out of it with his ex-boyfriend. I feel that’s me. When I watch it, I go, “This feels very real.”
All episodes of English Teacher are available now on Hulu.