Toni Collette stars as the head teacher of an academy for troubled teens in Netflix's new mystery thriller series 'Wayward'.

Hollywood

The cast and creator of the television drama 'Wayward' have discussed the show's approach to queer representation, focusing on the importance of portraying LGBTQ characters whose identities are not the central source of conflict in their stories. They emphasized that the characters' sexualities are treated as one aspect of their lives, rather than the main focus or source of trauma.

The discussion highlighted the rarity of bi representation on television and the significance of having confident, openly queer characters whose challenges stem from other aspects of their lives. The creators and cast expressed pride in contributing to more nuanced and authentic LGBTQ representation in media.

'Wayward's cast and creator talk queer representation

Are you aware of how big an icon you are to queer people? I have been told this from time to time. What an honor! In the hills and valleys, there is a place where your teenager can grow and thrive. My name is Evelyn Wade. I'm the lead youth counselor here at Tall Pines Academy. As a queer person, watching a drama where a lot of the characters are LGBTQ, but that's not the problem in their life. Yeah. And I would love to hear about creating the show, what that meant to you, and in performing in it, what did that mean? Because I feel like, you know, obviously those are stories out there that are totally valid, but it often becomes a lot of our representation on screen is the struggle of being LGBTQ. Yes, yeah. Well, that's always, I mean, in my life, I feel like my queerness is probably one of the least interesting things about me, probably. And so I always want to reflect that. And also, I think, you know, you can sort of, if you break people's walls down and they can really relate to other aspects of the characters' lives, then you can kind of secretly sneak in your subversive stuff. But also I think for my character, Alex, and being in this town that is so progressive and welcoming, and on the surface, I'm really interested in how desperate he is to be accepted and belong and how badly he wants that heteronormativity and what he's willing to sacrifice. And do you two have a commentary on, like, what it is to be in a show where that gets to be an element, but not, like, as much as there are pressures within the show. It's not sensationalized. Yeah. Everyone's just a person making their way, no matter what their preferences are or who they identify as. Yeah, and I think I was just really drawn to the dynamic between Alex and Laura, the love they have for each other, the complexity of the power dynamic between the two of them, how much that shifts throughout the course of the show, and just really their own personal journeys about becoming parents and how at one point they're aligned and then all of a sudden they just really are not. It was just so awesome. I love that Lila's so just forward about her sexuality and just so, like, this is who I am, I'm confident, and you can't tell me anything else. And it's not her main struggle. It's not the reason that she's having all these problems in her life. She has a lot of problems in her life, but none of them really stem from that. It's not her trauma. And, I mean, I had a conversation with GLAAD recently just about the statistics of bi representation in TV, and it's very unrepresented. And so getting to play the character was just so incredible and just getting to be so, like, forward. Yeah, like, I'm actually bi, so it's awesome. And for the early 2000s. And for the early 2000s. It's especially underrepresented. I can't wait for you to meet the new you.

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