Netflix's Julie and the Phantoms Cast Talks Creating a Sweet Gay Ghost Love Story
'Julie and the Phantoms' Cast Talks Creating a Gay Ghost Love Story
Netflix's newest teen musical series features a much-needed (and sweet AF) queer romance!
Based on the Brazilian series Julie e os Fantasmas, Netflix's Julie and the Phantoms is the cute (and gay-inclusive!) musical teen series we didn't even know we needed!
Though the story focuses primarily on main character Julie Molina (Madison Reyes), a shy but musically-gifted teen who is coping with the recent death of the mother and who can communicate with a ghostly boyband named Sunset Curve, fans of the series are absolutely going crazy for the coupling of Alex (Owen Patrick Joyner) and Willie (Booboo Stewart). While gay couples are more common in media than they were in years past, it's still significant to see an out and proud gay couple in a youth-oriented teen series, and not have their storyline be about grief or trauma. And the stans are loving it!
PRIDE got to sit down for an interview with the show's cast as well as legendary executive producer and director Kenny Ortega about the LGBTQ+ inclusion in the show and the series' most adorable ships!
"It was there in our thoughts from the very, very beginning. We were given freedom to work with a new Julie and the Phantoms, a broad range to explore and adventure into new territory with our characters, and Dan Cross and Dave Hodge and I agreed that we thought that it would be wonderful to have a gay member of the band, a gay ghost, and a gay story," Ortega told PRIDE about the creation of Alex and Willie's love story. "I felt it was important that it was not a coming out story, but that we could play the normality of being a guy who just happens to be gay and put him in a more enlightened world with friends that just, accept him 100 percent. And, so, it was just really thrilling for me to be able to be a part of the development of that story. And then finding, Owen Patrick Joyner to play Alex and then seeing the chemistry that happened with Booboo Stewart and how comfortable and at ease and relaxed these guys were at every single moment, they were so open to any direction that I might throw at them, and they enjoyed these characters so much. It was a joy the whole time, always."
Julie and the Phantoms is now streaming on Netflix!
