Showtime’s groundbreaking drama “The L Word” is back for a new generation.
The show, which originally ran for six seasons from 2004-2009, followed the lives and loves of lesbians living in West Hollywood, Calif. and was the first show to exclusively feature gay female characters. The revival series, “The L Word: Generation Q,” premieres Sunday at 10 p.m. on Showtime with three of the original cast members (Jennifer Beals, Katherine Moenning and Leisha Hailey) joining the new, younger cast of characters.
“I was in high school [when the original premiered],” says new cast member Rosanny Zayas, 29, a native New Yorker. “I remember it coming on really late at night, and knowing I had school the next day — but I didn’t care. I stayed up late while everybody else was sleeping. I’d go to school the next day tired, but it was worth it!”
Zayas, a Juilliard grad, starred as Helena in the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and appeared in an episode of “Orange Is the New Black.” Landing a role on a series that she’d been a fan of during her teen years in Queens was a dream come true, she says.
“The original cast were so welcoming, so openhearted. They made it feel like this was everyone’s show,” she says. “It was so beautiful, because you saw everyone on set giving one thousand percent. We all believed in the show and each other.”
“Generation Q” (the “Q” stands for “queer”) relocates the story from West Hollywood to Silver Lake (in LA) and picks up following original cast member Bette Porter (Beals), who’s now running to be the first lesbian mayor of LA. Her friend Shane McCutcheon (Moenning) is a millionaire with a swanky mansion while her other pal, Alice Pieszecki (Hailey), is the host of a trendy talk show. Viewers who remember Jenny (Mia Kirshner) from the original series are reminded via expository dialogue that she died by suicide.
Zayas plays Sophie Suarez, a TV producer who works with Alice. She’s joined by Adrienne Mandi as Dani, a PR exec who works with Bette; Leo Sheng as Mica Lee, their roommate (a trans man); and Jacqueline Toboni as Shane’s houseguest.
“This is my first role playing someone who is Dominican American from New York, just like me,” says Zayas. “I’m really excited to show parts of that on television, especially details like hair and hair texture and food and speaking Spanish and portraying a Dominican family. I hope people in the community can really see that and feel like they have a place on television as well.
“When you’re growing up in New York, living in a neighborhood where sometimes it’s not the safest to be outside, you watch TV – that was how we really kept ourselves entertained,” she says. “If you can sit in front of the TV and see [a version of yourself] that, to me, is amazing. This show is doing that.”
Of the young cast members, Zayas was hardly alone in being a fan of the show’s first incarnation.
“There were times on set where we’d sneak into a room watching episodes from the original,” she says. “And then we’d look across the room and there’s Leisha and Kate and Jennifer. The fact that I got to work with them every day was such a dream. People think there’s only one ‘coming of age’ story but I think what’s so amazing about this show is that you get to see two generations grow together.”