‘Queer as Folk’ Showrunner Jaclyn Moore and Star Jesse James Keitel on Telling a Trans Coming Out Story
Wilson Chapman editorSpoiler Alert: Do not read if you haven’t watched “Bleep,” the sixth episode of “Queer as Folk,” now streaming on Peacock.The first two shows that bared the name “Queer as Folk” presented a fairly narrow view of what “queer” is.
While Russell T. Davies’ 1999 British original and its first American remake on Showtime were groundbreaking at the time for their depiction of LGBTQ people as the leads of their own stories, the shows overwhelmingly centered the experiences of white cisgender gay men.
The newly launched Peacock reimagining of the series, which was developed by Stephen Dunn, presents a far more diverse and varied depiction of queer life, exploring characters in an interrelated group of queer friends living in New Orleans. “What ‘Queer as Folk’ meant in 1999 and 2000, that’s actually what we’re trying to reboot,” Jaclyn Moore, who serves as co-showrunner with Dunn, tells Variety. “What is the modern version of that?
What is the modern version of telling queer stories, and telling defiant queer stories?”Moore was heavily responsible for the development of the show’s primary trans character, Ruthie (Jesse James Keitel), an English teacher and new mother struggling to grow up from her party girl roots.
