This spring, queer series bloom on streaming platforms. On the menu? A young gay man in full post-breakup gloom, the sequel to a successful fiction, and the return of a cult American comedy.
By Florian Ques, Laure Dasinieres and Tessa Lanney
The sunny days are coming but we have no intention of giving up our TV evenings. For this reason, Netflix, HBO Max, Canal+, Prime Video, ARTE and Disney+ have spread the word to offer us a nice selection of series with queers characters as we love them.
- Oh, Otto!
Everything goes haywire for Otto. In a short span, his boyfriend dumps him without warning and his best friend tells him she will very soon move. Feeling left behind, this twenty-something who’s adrift stumbles into the not-so-wonderful world of dating apps and tries to find his place in the Brussels queer scene. This foray will not be easy and will hold a few surprises… Selected at Canneséries last year, the Flemish production Oh, Otto! is a gentle portrait of that fragile period after a breakup when bearings shatter, and it deftly addresses the theme of solitude, a real challenge within the gay community.
>> Oh, Otto!, streaming on Canal+.
- The Testaments
Continuation of the dystopian series The Handmaid’s Tale and adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name published in 2019, The Testaments unfolds within the Republic of Gilead, fifteen years after the events that concerned June. It follows a new generation of adolescent girls, trained to become the future wives of high-ranking regime men. Among them, Agnes, impeccably played by Chase Infiniti, breakout star of the Oscar-winning film A Battle After Another, and Becka (Mattea Conforti), one of her classmates who doesn’t love her the way she should, while all forms of queer sexuality are repressed.
>> The Testaments, en streaming sur Disney+.
- The Pitt, season 2
A gem of humanity, empathy and tension, The Pitt returns for a second season of fifteen episodes – one for each hour on call in the emergency department led by a Dr Robby (Noah Wyle) teetering on the edge. Faithful to its tolerance credo, the hospital series makes sexual orientations and gender identities of the main characters not narrative arcs but backdrop elements, to show the United States as it truly is: plural.
>> The Pitt, en streaming sur HBO Max.
- The Night Manager, season 2
Ten years after a first season that was more than intense, the two-faced spy Jonathan Pine, played by Tom Hiddleston, returns for a second installment just as tense and full of twists. In this sequel set in a Colombia on the brink of civil war, a new antagonist emerges: Teddy Dos Santos, a violent businessman and secretly gay, portrayed by Diego Calva (Babylon, The Untamed). But if this sequel has sparked a lot of chatter, it’s also for a three-person dance scene charged with bisexual tension in which our secret agent does what he does best: seducing his enemies to bring them to his side.
>> The Night Manager, en streaming sur Prime Video.
- Malcolm: Nothing Has Changed
After exactly twenty years of absence, the cult comedy Malcolm returns with a new version, Malcolm: Nothing Has Changed, which aptly bears its name as its madness remains intact. The series’ young hero has grown up: he now heads a charitable food organization and is the father of a teenage daughter, Leah, whose existence he had… hidden from the rest of the family. So when Hal and Lois uncover the truth, Malcolm is once again faced, albeit unwillingly, with the family chaos he had been trying to flee. If the original series was already quite progressive in the 2000s, its sequel makes room for queer characters: Kelly, the youngest in the family, is non-binary, and Stevie, Malcolm’s best friend, is now with a man, Glenn.
>> Malcolm: Nothing Has Changed, en streaming sur Disney+.
- From Belfast to Paradise?
Upon learning of the sudden death of a childhood friend, three forty-somethings set out from Belfast to the county of Donegal, in northern Ireland, to attend the funeral. Once there, they panic: it seems someone has heard a secret buried since their high school years and would be ready to make them pay. The investigation then begins to uncover this mystery… Within the central trio, Dara, a somewhat butch character but very clueless. After making us laugh out loud with Derry Girls, its creator Lisa McGee attempts suspense infused with dark humor here, a bit like the crossover between Pretty Little Liars and the very good Bad Sisters to be discovered on Apple TV+.
>> From Belfast to Paradise?, en streaming sur Netflix.
- Big Mistakes
Nicky is a gay pastor who does his utmost to keep a calm and orderly life. Morgan, his younger sister, is a teacher about to get engaged. Following a mishap after their grandmother’s death, the two are catapulted, unwillingly, into the world of organized crime… Co-created by Dan Levy (Schitt’s Creek) and Rachel Sennott (I Love LA), this unruly family comedy makes dark humor its signature and hints at a promising plot that could unfold over several seasons.
>> Big Mistakes, en streaming sur Netflix.
- Hartley, Hearts on Fire, season 3
As graduation approaches, Amerie and her friends find themselves in a tight spot: a prank, meant to get revenge on a rival school, goes wrong and brings serious consequences. They all decide to cover their tracks because their secret was about to be revealed, their future derailing… Reboot of the cult Australian series from the 90s, Netflix’s Hartley, Hearts on Fire closes its final season with a suspenseful through-line but does not forget to offer us pretty scenes with the multiple queer characters, like the sparkling Quinni and the couple Darren and Cash.
>> Hartley, cœurs à vif, en streaming sur Netflix.
- Someone Should Ban Sunday Afternoons
After securing a professional opportunity, Louise, an aspiring director, leaves Limoges – and her boyfriend in the process – to climb up to Paris. By a twist of fate, she meets Charlie, a barmaid in a youth hostel, and her best friend Nelson, with whom she lives. In little time, she finds herself joining their flat share and must respect a tradition: every Sunday afternoon, they share films from the comfort of their sofa. Someone Should Ban Sunday Afternoons counters its portrayal of a slightly quaint Paris with the modernity of its protagonists – notably Charlie, a lesbian and a feminist.
>> Someone Should Ban Sunday Afternoons, en streaming sur Arte.tv.
- XO, Kitty, season 3
In the new season of XO, Kitty, Kitty is continuing her year in Seoul, still caught up in her own romantic storylines. In the background, a gay love triangle forms and shakes up the dynamics of this small group. Between a budding, promising yet still fragile relationship, and a past, long-silent, never truly digested story, the heart of the handsome Quincy, aka Q, wavers. Between jealousy, insecurities and the “what if” fantasy, the series captures that troubled moment when one hesitates between building and mending. Not central, but surprisingly precise.
>> XO, Kitty, en streaming sur Netflix.
