“The L Word: Generation Q” Has Cast Four Attractive Humans To Play Some Gay Parts

Today “The L Word: Generation Q” has picked actors for several of its lead roles, according to The Hollywood Reporter, unfortunately none of those actors are you. Unless you are one of those actors and you are reading this right now, in which case, could you let me know if you are gay or not? I recognize that this doesn’t matter a ton but I need a hook for this piece.

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Arienne Mandi will play Dani Nùñez, “a powerful and calculating PR executive whose ambition is only tested by her conscience.” Mandi has had a few small TV roles like on NCIS and Matador, and although it is unclear if she is gay IRL or not, she is at least very good at seeming gay in pictures.

The most experienced Film & TV actress of the bunch, Jacqueline Toboni, appeared regularly in Grimm, but many queers may recognize from her role as Jo on Easy, the girlfriend of Kiersey Clemons’ Chase. She will play Sarah, ” a charming but unfocused assistant who struggles to reconcile her sexual orientation with her religious upbringing.” Toboni recently worked with showrunner Marja-Lewis Ryan on her play “Bugaboo & The Silent One.” Her sister seems gay for sure but if I had to bet my life on her being queer or not, I would bet on queer, although at least one total stranger on the internet says that she is straight. Her haircut, voice and twitter feed are gay as hell though so I don’t know, if I’ve lost my life then I will be on my way to hang out with Dana Fairbanks.

An April casting call for the reboot had a character named Sarah Finley who was described as “a former Olympic swimmer” with a tall, athletic build, who’d grown up in a conservative religious family and worked as the office PA on a talk show. It seems like this character has probably been scrapped or adjusted into the current Sarah, but wouldn’t it be charming ifThe L Word: Generation Q‘s dedication to realism extended to having more than one “Sarah” in a lesbian friend group?

Rosanny Zayas will play Sophie, “a TV producer who guards her heart and is quick to put other people’s needs before her own.” Zayas, a Julliard graduate, has a part in the yet-unaired seventh season of Orange is the New Black and has a background in theater, including appearing in The Public’s 2018 production of “A Midsummer’s Night Dream.”

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Leo Sheng will play Micah Lee, a trans guy and “an earnest, soft-spoken adjunct professor who is forced to confront his fear of vulnerability.” Leo, like me and Jacqueline Toboni, went to the University of Michigan, and will debut this year in the film Adam, based on Ariel Schrag’s graphic novel of the same name.

There you have it, gumshoes!

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Riese

Riese is the 41-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3257 articles for us.

13 Comments

  1. The idea of tv producer who’s defining trait is putting other people’s needs before her own made is the hardest I’ve laughed in a long time.

  2. I am equal parts excited and nervous to see an Asian-American trans man on the show….there are just SO many ways for Ilene Chaiken to fuck this up

    • Ilene Chaiken isn’t showrunning this one (thank god). Still nervous! But optimistic.

  3. I wish the cast was more diverse in size; I guess I’ll have to get my plus-size representation elsewhere…

  4. Not unrealistic for a friend group to have more than one Sarah if they are part of a certain age and demographic. But it probably doesn’t make good TV.

  5. So, will there be any trans women or do we not exist in their world of LA? Cause trans people do know other trans people.

  6. ugggghhhh the book “adam” was so incredibly transphobic and terrible and i’m so disappointed that it is turning into a movie and that AS is mentioning it uncritically. :/

    • RIGHT like how’re you gonna make a whole show about queers in LA and NOT include trans women AGAIN??

      • Exactly! When I go to the real Planet, Cuties Coffee, which is owned by a trans woman and an afab non-binary person, I see many lovely trans women, men, and non-binary people of all ages. Want to make it authentic go to cuties first Sunday of the month and get some inspiration there.

  7. LOL still no trans women. well won’t be watching.

    also Adam is hella transphobic and lesbophobic. its all over twitter that the trans actors were treated like garbage, misgendered, and lied to about what their scenes were portraying. they were even lied to about what movie they going to be in.

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