Devin Way On Why Queer As Folk Is Still So Important Today - Exclusive
"Queer as Folk" is now streaming on Peacock, and it delivers some of the realest, rawest queer storytelling on television. Helming the series are Finn Argus, Jesse James Keitel, Ryan O'Connell, and Devin Way, among many other talented actors (via IMDb), and what they bring together over the course of eight New Orleans-set episodes is pure magic.
This version of "Queer as Folk," which succeeds two prior series, is in part so real and raw because its pilot features a shooting at a gay club. This has happened in real life, with June 2022 being the sixth anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016, as noted by People. Naturally, this affects the show in many ways, banding together all parts of the queer community in order to heal from this trauma.
However, the show doesn't only present hard times to its viewers. Anyone who tunes in can expect to see plenty of queer joy and love, too. After all, if a series sets out to showcase true, lived queer experiences, there has to be a full spectrum of emotions, and "Queer as Folk" delivers here. This broad showcase of the community is needed on television today, and, in an exclusive interview with The List, "Queer as Folk" star Devin Way revealed precisely why.
The original Queer as Folk series were groundbreaking, but the work continues
"Queer as Folk" is for queer by queer people, but it's also good content to watch if you want to be a better ally this Pride Month. In fact, the series is so necessary because of the continued issues that the LGBTQ+ community faces, both in everyday relationships (whether in families, between strangers, or otherwise) and in the law. It's been during Pride Month 2022 that Ohio passed a discriminatory law against trans minors, for instance (via The Washington Post).
Devin Way understands this struggle. "The series is so important because as much as I would like to say that we've made it, we're all here, there's still work to be done," Way told The List. "This show is a monumental win in that work, and my hope with our show is that it will inspire more people to create, more people to do more, CEOs and networks to approve queer content that is being created," the "Grey's Anatomy" actor continued. "That's what's important."
This is why this iteration "Queer as Folk" is the third to hit television screens. This mission never ends, which is also why this latest version shows all kinds of queer people rather than centering on white gay men. "When you broaden the spectrum to ours and you see people of different ethnic backgrounds, different physical capabilities, different genders, and we get to tell those stories and you place it New Orleans of all places, it is like, 'How much more impactful will it be for people who've never felt themselves to be seen?'" Way continued. "It's something that I am so excited about."
"Queer as Folk" is now streaming on Peacock.