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 has dropped for the highly-anticipated cinematic return of Downton Abbey: A New Era. The film reunites the beloved cast, including out butler Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier), as they go on a grand journey to the South of France to uncover the mystery of the Dowager Countess’ newly inherited villa. The sequel is set to open in theaters on April 29th in the UK and May 20th in the US. Watch the trailer below!
2) Bisexual actress Stephanie Beatriz will star in the horror-thriller movie History of Evil, in which a family on the run from a corrupt state takes refuge in a safe house with an evil past— a terrifying last stop on a near-future Underground Railroad. In other casting news, out actors Bowen Yang and Nathan Lane will join the cast for F*cking Identical Twins, an R-rated musical comedy that puts a subversive spin on The Parent Trap. When two business adversaries realize they are identical twin brothers, they decide to switch places in order to reunite their divorced parents and become a family again.
“F*cking Identical Twins” is…
– an R-rated A24 movie
– that’s also musical
– and stars Bowen Yang, Megan Thee Stallion, Nathan Lane and Megan Mullally.https://t.co/EzMNF0gABf— Variety (@Variety) February 17, 2022
3) Entertainment studio XTR and production company Majority have announced a forthcoming documentary on the late ‘90s TV psychic and out lesbian Miss Cleo. Miss Cleo purported to be a Jamaican soothsayer, but the person under the turban was in fact Los Angeles native Youree Dell Harris— an actress and playwright hired to embody the gifted psychic. The famed tarot card reader became a ubiquitous television presence in ads offering to tell people’s fortunes through a pay-per-call number and she eventually became the centerpiece of a billion-dollar fraud investigation.
Who Could Have Predicted? Documentary Coming About Miss Cleo, Famed ’90s TV Psychic https://t.co/G7alfk0wXJ
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) February 16, 2022
4) Shudder has officially announced Queer for Fear: A History of Queer Horror as a four-part documentary series from out executive producer Bryan Fuller. The limitied series dives into the history of the horror and thriller genres, specifically when it comes to the role that members of the LGBTQ community have played in shaping them both in front of and behind the camera. Interviewees on the show include queer Attack of the Queerwolf podcast-co-host Renée “Nay” Bever, lesbian actor-writer Lea DeLaria (Orange is the New Black), genderqueer director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry), and out writer-producer and actress BJ Colangelo. Additionally, out actress, comedien, and writer Kate McKinnon will join the cast for the Warner Bros Greta Gerwig-directed live-action Barbie movie. While the plot is still unknown, the film will be based on the Mattel line of popular dolls that made their debut all the way back in 1959.
Get ready for Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror, a four-part docu-series from executive producer @BryanFuller coming later this year. #TCA22 pic.twitter.com/6lMxsM9e2d
— Shudder (@Shudder) February 10, 2022
5) Netflix has shared a first look at season two of Russian Doll three years after the show’s debut. This season, after they discover a fate even worse than endless death, Nadia (Natasha Lyonne) and Alan (out actor Charlie Barnett) delve deeper into their pasts through an unexpected time portal in Manhattan. First look images show Greta Lee will return as Nadia’s queer best friend Maxine.
The first look at the second season of Netflix’s Russian Doll is finally here https://t.co/dRwWLabW8s pic.twitter.com/wyWIhopX1U
— The A.V. Club (@TheAVClub) February 11, 2022
6) Queer and non-binary actor and model Lio Tipton will join the cast of upcoming true crime series A Friend of the Family, a drama based on the harrowing story of the Broberg family, whose daughter was kidnapped multiple times. Out actress Anna Paquin plays Mary Ann Broberg, a mother of three who realizes too late that she missed the warning signs and became close to her charismatic neighbor, Robert Berchtold, a businessman, Mormon father, husband and expert manipulator who plotted the abduction of her oldest daughter Jan. Tipton will play Gail Berchtold, Robert’s wife and the mother of a large family, who never could have expected what her husband would eventually do.
Anna Paquin, Jake Lacy, Colin Hanks, Lio Tipton to Lead True Crime Drama at Peacock https://t.co/NcT38QbK07
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 15, 2022
7) Showtime drama Billions has been renewed for a seventh season. In Season six of Billions, the dust of Season five clears to reveal a world that has evolved. With Axe gone and Michael Prince assuming his place, Chuck must develop a new strategy that is keener and more sophisticated than before. The series also features non-binary character Taylor Mason (out performer, writer, and director Asia Kate Dillon) as the brilliant, young mind at Axe Capital.
Showtime has renewed its hit series #Billions for Season 7 https://t.co/k0H8fljFpA
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) February 15, 2022
8) Westworld will return to HBO for a fourth season this summer. The first two seasons spent time in the Delos western theme park, where robot hosts became aware they were programmed for the entertainment of guests. Multiple timelines revealed who some past guests became, and what Delos was really doing with the park and its hosts. The hosts escaped at the end of season two, and season three saw them in the outside world of 2052. Out actress Evan Rachel Wood plays lead Dolores, and Tessa Thompson plays Charlotte Hale, Executive Director of the Delos Destinations Board, which oversees Westworld and other parks.
“Westworld” Season 4 will return this summer, confirms HBO content chief Casey Bloys. https://t.co/H8rlYUkVH8 pic.twitter.com/I8IqcJwBp6
— Variety (@Variety) February 16, 2022
9) Hulu’s sitcom How I Met Your Father has been renewed for season two. In the near future, Sophie (Kim Cattrall) is telling her son the story of how she met his father: a story that catapults us back to the year 2021 where Sophie (Hilary Duff) and her close-knit group of friends – Jesse (Chris Lowell), Valentina (Francia Raisa), Charlie (Tom Ainsley), Jesse’s queer adoptive sister Ellen (out lesbian actress Tien Tran) and Sid (Suraj Sharma) — are in the midst of figuring out who they are, what they want out of life, and how to fall in love in the age of dating apps and limitless options.
Good news, #HIMYF fans! Season 2 is officially coming! https://t.co/o0UrhY86PL pic.twitter.com/QCrsSxA02G
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) February 15, 2022
10) Out singer-songwriter Troye Sivan has shared his new song “Trouble”, featuring queer indie artist Jay Som, for the upcoming coming-of-age film Three Months, which Sivan will star in (stream it here!). Additionally, avant-garde music collective COMMANDO have released a playful lyric video for “Mykki Blanco” off their upcoming self-title debut album, featuring queer punk icon Lynnee Breedlove. Watch the music video below! In other music news, indie rock duo Guyville released their anti-Valentines single “Should Have Never Dated” on Valentine’s Day this week. Stream it here!