Showtime has announced that it is
developing a sequel to its groundbreaking lesbian drama The L
Word.
The show about a group of lesbians
living in Los Angeles ran for six seasons (2004-2009) on the premium
cable network.
According to Entertainment
Weekly, co-creator Ilene Chaiken will return to executive
produce the series. Stars of the original show, Jennifer Beals,
Katherine Moenig and Leisha Hailey, will also executive produce and
appear in the show.
Beals, who played Bette Porter in the
series, told EW that the election of President Donald Trump served as
a catalyst for the sequel.
“The election happened,” Beal
said. “I remember I was in South Dakota watching the returns
come in and I texted Ilene and I said, 'We need to do something.'
She said, 'Let’s get together and talk about it.' So we were
spitballing about what to do and I said our skillset is storytelling
and I think we need to tell stories and certainly in an atmosphere of
increasing hatred towards the LGBT community and frankly anyone who’s
categorized as 'other,' stories exploring the complexities of
friendship and love are all that more crucial. Representation of
everything. You can’t go backward. I would love to see the show
continue to mine its original themes of friendship and love and
community and additionally I’d like it to go a little further and
challenge heteronormalcy.”
“I learned what activism is through
The L Word and that was life-changing,” she added.