Queer As Folk returns, a remake of the pioneering series in portraying the gay community

Two decades after the television phenomenon Queer as Folktomorrow a remake of the British series that pioneered the small screen in 1999, presenting a plot starring members of the gay community, at a time when the topic was still taboo, arrives at Starzplay tomorrow.

The platform announced the purchase of the rights to this content from NBC-Universal Television for Latin America and Europe, with two chapters every Sunday for a month. This remake of Queer As Folk it was a great success in the United States, thanks to a story that takes place today in the city of New Orleans.

The premiere in the United States and England took place in June, coinciding with Pride Month.

The original from ’99

Focusing on the daily lives of three young gays in Manchester at the turn of the last century, the series created by Russell T. Davies originally aired on Channel 4 caused quite a bit of controversy when it was first released in 1999.

Of the three protagonists, two would achieve screen star status: Aidan Gillen, who played the unscrupulous and promiscuous Stuart, later chained one famous work after another, including Petyr Littlefinger Baelish in game of Thrones.

Charlie Hunnam, who played teenager Nathan, was also not far behind and many remember him for being the main character in Sons of anarchy.

An eight-episode season and two special chapters the following year, in 2000, was his entire journey. But their language without censorship or concealment, the risque scenes and, above all, the force with which they demolished the stereotypes of decades of homophobic representation was enough to mark a milestone.

Something began to shake in the late 1990s, and the LGBTIQ + collective began to have minutes on the screen and not just with secondary characters, usually targets of ridicule or scandal. Just in 1998 the sitcom debuted Will and gracewhich, albeit with a different tone, also broke prejudices and introduced the theme on prime time television.

The first remake and the current one

In 2000 there was a first remake from Queer As Folk for American audiences, it was set in Pittsburgh, USA, and aired for five seasons on Showtime, but was not as popular as the British original.

This new version of 2022created by Stephen Dunn and with an eight-episode season, it is a vindication of the spirit of the British original.

The current storyline is set in New Orleans and follows a group of friends whose lives change abruptly after a shooting at a queer-themed nightclub called Babylon, a clear reference to the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, which a man walked into. with a semi-automatic rifle and a pistol and killed 49 people and wounded 53 others.

The cast is led by Devin Way, Fin Argus, Jesse James Keitel, CG, Johnny Sibilly and Ryan O’Connell. Additionally, she has prominent guest stars such as Kim Cattrall (of Sex and city), Juliette Lewis and Ed Begley Jr.

The production sought to form a cast that expressed the diversity of gender, sex and race in which “actors play who they are,” as detailed in a press release; a difference with the Queer As Folk English, whose three main characters were played by heterosexual artists.

Russel T. Davies, creator of such series Years and years Y It’s a shameis the executive producer of this reboot based on his own Queer as Folk original, after not participating in the 2000 American remake.

Stephen Dunn is in charge of the scripts and said that, “like most queer kids in the 90s, I had a unique relationship with Queer as Folk“.

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