Showtime announced that it’s set to develop a sequel series to the groundbreaking lesbian drama “The L Word,” eight years after wrapping the show’s six-season run.
Similar to the original series, the reboot of “The L Word” will focus on a new cast of women in a show that illustrates the lives, including the loves and tribulations, of queer women exciting many fans who followed the cult series that won two GLAAD Media Awards.
Although the coming-of-age and self-identity soap will be a reboot, actresses from the original show Jennifer Beals, KateMoennig and Leisha Hailey are expected to serve as executive producers and appear in the series with their characters to show the relationship between the old series and the new one.
Other characters from the original series, which aired from 2004-2009 on Showtime before syndication on Logo, may also appear in the new version.
The revival will be led byIlene Chaiken, who is also a producer on Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”project and will serve as as an executive producer on “The L Word.” Along with having a large role behind the scenes for “The L Word,” she will remain showrunner on Fox’s “Empire” and continue to develop projects for 20th Century Fox Television.
According to Variety, Chaiken expressed her own identity as a lesbian by featuring the the topic and other LGBTQ relationships on “Empire” with insiders noting the idea for the sequel series first came from her.
The reboot announcement comes after a string of revival announcements of other popular television shows recently, including “S.W.A.T.,” “Roseanne” and “Will & Grace,” which is slated to premire on NBC this fall.
Although show revivals are appearing left and right, “The L Word” reboot brings back a show where queer women are at the center of nearly all the storylines particularly during a time when some have criticized television’s treatment of lesbian characters.
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement, “The past few years have seen lesbian and queer women characters in television killed off in shockingly high numbers.”
She continued, “It is refreshing and exciting to see GLAAD Media Award-winning “The L Word” returning to television where it can tell nuanced, entertaining, and beautiful stories of a largely underrepresented community.”
