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With Glee’s season finale airing Tuesday night, all eyes—at least for SheWired-- are squarely focused on McKinley’s High’s resident closet case lesbian Santana, but actress Naya Rivera’s rising star has been spotted by more than the lesbian community, leading to a feature on Rivera in Tuesday’sL.A. Times.
The L.A. Times piece touches on how writers and producers teased with the Brittana storyline for months before deciding to out Santana, and Rivera says that the loyal fan base had plenty of influence on bringing that story to light beyond a few stolen lady kisses and flirting.
"Who knows if the writers would have taken that relationship so seriously if there hadn't been such an outpouring for them to get together,” Rivera told the L.A. Times regarding “Brittana.”
"I didn't know where they were going to take the story line, but I ended up having a lot of fun playing with it," she says. "I've gotten to show off different sides of who Santana is, and I've gotten an overwhelmingly great response."
For those who haven’t been avidly following Santana’s evolution, over the past several episodes Santana has admitted she’s not the least bit interested in the boys she dates and that she’s deeply in love with her best friend Brittany (Heather Morris). Still, while Santana’s admission was revelatory, the character has not had an easy time of coming to terms with her sexuality.
Regarding Santana’s struggles Rivera says, "Honestly, I never thought I'd actually be playing a teen lesbian. I didn't think it was going to go this far. But I'm glad that it did, because there have been a lot of fans who have expressed that they've been going through similar situations in their lives. I've heard from girls that are in high school, they're 16, 17, and they're like, 'I came out to my mom,' or 'I came out to my friends, and thank you for helping me do that.'"
The LA Times article implies that “Brittana” fans may get a glimpse of where the story is headed for next season in the season finale, which has the glee kids hitting the Big Apple for Nationals!
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
