The Heathers remake has a major queer update
A TV remake of iconic film Heathers is making two of the characters LGBT.
The 1988 film starred a murderous group of friends all called Heather, launching the careers of Winona Ryder and Christian Slater.
The film, which has a cult following, is being remade as an upcoming TV series – and will feature a very queer update.
A trailer was released during yesterday’s Video Music Awards (VMAs) ahead of the show’s premiere next year on the Paramount Network.
The new show will stick to a similar storyline and tone to the original film, but will get an update to reflect 2017.
As part of the update, the character of Heather Duke – played by Shannen Doherty in the film – has been re-written as a genderqueer character who goes by the name Heath.
Brendan Scannell will play the role.
Sharing the trailer, Scannell quipped: “Hopefully trump will be gone by the time this drops and we can all relax and watch some teens drag each other!!!!”
Meanwhile the character of Heather McNamara – originally portrayed by Lisanne Falk – will be a black lesbian on the new remake, played by Jasmine Mathews.
The major update has gone down well with fans.
One wrote: “A heather of color, a plus sized heather, and a genderqueer heather. Sign me tf up.”
Another added: “Completely on board for this. Normally I’m not one for TV remakes of movies but I love pretty much everyone involved & that gives me hope.”
However, not everyone is on board – and Twitter predictably lit up with complaints from people upset that there’s more black and queer representation in 2017 than the ‘good old days’ of the 1980s.
riginal star Shannen Doherty guest stars in the pilot, while Selma Blair has a recurring role in the series.
In 2012, another spin-off of the movie set around the daughters of the characters was planned but never actually made it to air.
Heathers has long been held as a classic among members of the LGBT community, with a memorable season-long tribute on Season Three of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The film has also been adapted into a musical.
