00:00Hi, I'm Jennifer Beals. I'm Jacqueline Toboni. I am Kay Medig. I'm Leisha Haley. I'm Leo Shang,
00:06and we're in the studio with The Hollywood Reporter.
00:11My first question is for our executive producers and original cast members.
00:16I was wondering, what did it take for you to decide to come back and do a new revamp of
00:22The L Word?
00:23About 12 years.
00:25Yeah, I can...
00:26Well, the decision, I think it was a gradual process.
00:29I think we were, you know, surprised that nothing had taken its place really early on,
00:36and then the conversation, you know, grew gradually about how to bring it back.
00:42Even pre, like, reboot, the reboot craze,
00:45it was a conversation we kept having with Eileen, the original creator, and the three of us,
00:50and we're like, no one's doing it. Why? Why? You know, we need...the stories need to be told.
00:55I mean, back then, when we ended, gay marriage wasn't even legal.
00:59Yeah.
01:00So, so many stories to be told.
01:01But we also felt like the original show ended rather abruptly.
01:07So we, and we all wanted to work together again, and like Alicia said, we didn't know what a reboot
01:12was.
01:13We thought, we don't know what that looks like, because making a film version of that wouldn't make any sense.
01:18So that's why it took a good 12 years to figure it out within all the discussions we had among
01:24each other, right?
01:25And it was exciting, and actually, and to have that amount of time go by, because you have this new
01:31generation that's come up that's, you know, refuses to be categorized that, you know, is, is insistent on self-identifying
01:40both gender and sexual orientation.
01:41And that's really exciting to have these new conversations. I mean, when any generation can start completely, you know, changing
01:49the lexicon of how we talk about gender and how we talk about sexuality, you know that you're in a
01:55really profound moment of change.
01:57And so I think it's a perfect moment to come back.
01:59And Jacqueline and Leo, were you fans of the original L Word?
02:03Max was the first trans man I had seen anywhere and had any exposure to.
02:08I'd only known a few trans women in my life, and I didn't, like, it just didn't click that I
02:13could be me the way that makes me happy.
02:17And so that had a huge impact on my life. It's been such an honor to be part of that,
02:21honestly.
02:22Yeah, I was watching, uh, from the first season, I was sort of sneaking it.
02:28There you go. You were one of those, huh?
02:32And legal book. DPD swaps.
02:35Pied it from the parents.
02:37Yeah, I was such a huge fan, and it's really cool.
02:43You know, it sort of, like, gave me the permission to dream of being an actor, seeing this through on
02:49TV,
02:49and I have to thank you guys. I don't know if I've ever done that, but, um, yeah, it's pretty
02:56ridiculous.
02:56Every day you thank us.
02:57All the presents we leave at our trailer.
03:00It's so sweet.
03:01It's so sweet.
03:03It means a lot to us to be able to, um, you know, be helpful in that way.
03:09And what excites me is that now you are the cast, and now you will do that for somebody else.
03:14Exactly.
03:15Yeah.
03:16Well, you know, that's an interesting question.
03:18There are going to be some queer kids who this is their first introduction to the culture on television.
03:25What do you hope for them for the first season, like people who are watching the show for the first
03:31time?
03:33Well, I can speak for myself.
03:36When I was young, I had no representation on television.
03:39I had nobody, I mean, uh, Joe on Facts of Life wasn't even gay, but she kind of like rang
03:44true to my soul.
03:46And I was like, so, I mean, for someone like me, I was always searching to find a connection on
03:50television or in movies, and I just didn't.
03:52So I get the impact that a show like this has.
03:56So I hope that it just continues for a long time.
03:58And, and I hope this isn't the only show in the end.
04:01I hope, you know, people take our place when we're done with this.
04:04And I think there's a vast, like, landscape to fill.
04:09And that's part of the reason why we felt so emboldened to bring this back was because there was nothing
04:14that ever took its place.
04:15And, you know, you'd think within the 10 years we were off the air, there would be.
04:19Well, let's talk a little bit about the first season, what to look forward to.
04:23Jennifer, Bette is running for office.
04:26Were you inspired by any politicians in the realm right now to, like, to kind of move forward with that
04:32storyline?
04:32Uh, no, actually, we, we had thought about that quite a while ago, you know, and we thought it was
04:38the natural progression because Bette had, had always been political in a way, even with the, um, art shows that
04:47she had put together and, you know, testifying to Congress.
04:51Um, you know, there was always an aspect that was political and it's precipitated by certain, um, momentous personal events
05:00in her life.
05:00Right. And, uh, Kate, um, Shane is such a memorable character.
05:05Um, how are things going to be different for Shane this season?
05:10Oh, well, um, Shane's no longer 20, right?
05:15So she's had to grow up a bit.
05:17Uh, I think, you know, you are who you are at your core.
05:20You might mature a bit, but that doesn't really change.
05:23However, uh, I don't like talking about this because I have to be so coy and I don't like being
05:27coy, but I can't give things away.
05:28Right, right.
05:29So without giving anything away, I can just tell you that she enters back into this world, um, with a
05:36bit more responsibility.
05:37And money.
05:38I mean, it's kind of obvious and plain.
05:43Yeah.
05:43And then also.
05:45But, um, I think bigger, uh, things that hold more consequence than she had in the past.
05:51Uh, and just be patient.
05:53You get to episode four and, you know, it'll cease up a little bit.
05:57Um, but, uh, like, that's my cryptic way of saying she's grown up, but, you know, she's still got to
06:04figure it out.
06:05Yeah.
06:06Alicia, you have kind of a play within a play going on because you're running your own talk show.
06:10Yeah, I have it all figured out.
06:13She's the only Jesse Raphael.
06:14Oh, wow.
06:17For Ellen.
06:19For Ellen.
06:19No, um, no, Alice, like, was always a careerist to me.
06:23She, you know, just, like, was building, you know, her, her blocks there to get to the top and had
06:29her blog and her radio show.
06:31And, um, so now she has her own talk show and, um, but has a certain idea of what she
06:35wants it to be like opposite of the network.
06:38And, and her personal life is pretty, pretty damn exciting.
06:42I'm excited for people to see that because she's, you know, a very open, experimental person.
06:47She's a pioneer.
06:48Sure.
06:50Yeah.
06:51So she goes through some stuff.
06:52Nice.
06:53That's fun to watch.
06:54It's, it's very exciting to hear that people are going through stuff on a show like The L Word because
06:59you know that you're in for a fun ride.
07:02We're here to entertain.
07:03I mean, that's what it is in the end.
07:04It's a television show, you know?
07:06Yeah.
07:06We don't want to take ourselves too seriously.
07:08You can't take yourself too seriously.
07:09You lose the point.
07:10Yeah.
07:10So as a local Los Angelian, um, I know I should be jaded because I live in Hollywood, but it
07:17is so fun to watch the East Side locations.
07:21Uh, what was it like kind of shooting, shooting locally?
07:26Well, we came from shooting the series in Vancouver for six years.
07:30We never really got to utilize the place the show takes place in.
07:33So it was fun to shoot at home.
07:35Yeah.
07:35It looks like the show.
07:37You know what I mean?
07:38It looks like, it looks like LA or, you know, they did a good job hiding the mountains and the
07:43pine trees.
07:45It was a snowcap mountain.
07:46Yeah, exactly.
07:47It was 20 feet away from you at all times.
07:50Lakes, a lot of lakes.
07:51When I first moved to LA, I drove around to try to find the planet.
07:55Oh, you did?
07:56It took so long.
07:56And when I started the show, I think you told me, you were like, oh no, we filmed in Vancouver.
07:59I was like, oh, my God.
08:00That's great.
08:02You could have simply Googled the planet.
08:04You would have seen it ever existed.
08:07No old address or anything.
08:09So my last question to you, one of the things that the original L Word did was it brought
08:14people together.
08:15People used to have viewing parties at gay bars all over the country.
08:19If there are viewing parties for the new L Word, and I have a feeling there will be,
08:24would you pop in for a surprise visit?
08:26Oh, that would be so much fun.
08:27Yeah.
08:27I mean, we used to do that all the time.
08:30We'd show up at places and watch them.
08:31We'd do that before they realized that they were even viewing parties.
08:34Yeah.
08:35People were just getting together because that bar had cable, and everyone wanted to watch
08:39it.
08:40And we would sneak in, and everyone was none the wiser.
08:43We'd just sit there and watch with everyone.
08:44And we don't have that anymore, but it was great back then.
08:48It was.
08:48I'm getting tagged in invites to all these viewing parties in New York and LA and Chicago.
08:53I mean, I don't know.
08:55It's definitely already started.
08:56It's happening.
08:57Yeah.
08:57It's happening.
08:58It's so fun.
08:59Wonderful.
08:59Well, thank you so much for being here.
09:02We're really excited for this new season, and you can watch the L Word on Showtime.
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