Pop Culture Fix: Abbott Elementary Returns Tonight with a New Queer Actor!

Abbott Elementary Adds a Queer Actor as a Recurring Character

Benjamin Norris, Kimia Behpoornia, and Josh Segarra on 'Abbott Elementary'.

PHOTO: DISNEY/GILLES MINGASSON

Happy Abbott Elementary Day to All Who Celebrate! School is finally back in session! (I’d make a joke here like “never though I’d say that” but it would be a lie…I was a nerd.) Season 2 of Abbott Elementary ended last April, but because the studios decided to be difficult and made the writers’ and actors’ strikes much longer than they had to be, the third season was delayed past the fall season, and the winter midseason. But luckily they’re not making us wait until the next typical TV “season” (which would be summer), and Abbott Elementary returns to us TONIGHT.

And, in gay news, they have added queer actor Kimia Behpoornia as a recurring character. I think I first saw Behpoornia in the very queer sitcom Abby starring Natalie Morales, but she has shown up and made me laugh in many, many shows since then, from Hacks to Atypical to Reboot and even Station 19. I find her hilarious and I’m excited to see what she brings to the (cafeteria) table.

We don’t know yet if Kimia Behpoornia’s character will be queer, but if she is, we’ll know she’s in good hands, with queer writers like Brittani Nichols in the room. If she is, it will be a boon, because too often a show adds a gay man and considers its LGBTQ+ box ticked, rarely moving on to add more queer and/or trans characters. I knew Abbott was smarter than that, and having queer people in the writers’ room means they know better than anyone that there is so much more comedy to be mined out of having multiple queer and/or trans character in one cast. The opportunities are endless, and I look forward to what this season brings.

Quinta Brunson also said that even though the strikes may have caused a delay, it only made them more creative in the writers’ room, so get ready for a very silly season of television.


Extra Credit

+ The Marvels is now streaming on Disney+! Now you can watch Captain Marvel and Valkyrie flirt as often as you’d like.

+ Ashley Darby kissed a girl and she liked it; from what I understand via my Bravo sources (aka my Bravo-loving friends) Ashley has mentioned liking women before, but I still thought maybe you would like to hear her talking about how tenderly women kiss

+ The way I desperately combed this Girls on the Bus article to find anything remotely queer so I could include it because of how much I love Melissa Benoist (aka Supergirl) — I don’t even like political shows but you better believe I’ll be on this bus! Anyway I found something: Melissa’s costar Natasha Behnam uses she/they pronouns, let’s go!

+ Moana 2 is coming this November! It seems what was originally going to be a show is being turned into feature, and I do believe queer über-talent Auli’i Cravalho will be reprising her role as Moana, because the then-show was originally listed on her IMDb

+ People keep saying the wait for Season 2 of Hazbin Hotel will be short, and I guess “less than five years” will be relatively shorter but A YEAR AND A HALF feels like too long to wait to my needy heart!!! But I guess that’s shorter than other Prime Video animation shows, so I’ll allow it if it means we’re guaranteed more Hazbin

+ The Traitors was renewed for Season 3; have you been keeping up with our recaps?

+ Here are some behind-the-scenes facts about Griselda (a limited series that Carmen said was bisexual but… at what cost)

+ Florence Pugh and Zendaya are looking amazing at the red carpet events for Dune which I know isn’t technically gay news but they both have queer vibes and also *I* am so gay for them. I’ve never seen the Dune movies but statistically at least one of those worms has to be sapphic right?

+ Oh and hey, have another sapphic book list, as a treat

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Valerie Anne

Just a TV-loving, Twitter-addicted nerd who loves reading, watching, and writing about stories. One part Kara Danvers, two parts Waverly Earp, a dash of Cosima and an extra helping of my own brand of weirdo.

Valerie has written 550 articles for us.

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