Daniela Vega and more trans talent join cast for Netflix’s ‘Tales of the City’ series
Trans talent, including Daniela Vega and Jen Richards, have joined the cast for Netflix’s revival of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City—alongside RuPaul’s Drag Race season eight winner Bob the Drag Queen.
The show is inspired by the books of US author Armistead Maupin, whose nine-volume Tales of the City was published between 1978 and 2014.
In April, it was revealed that Ellen Page will star in the show as Shawna Hawkins, and that Orange Is the New Black writer Lauren Morelli is executive producer.
In the original books, Mary Ann Singleton—played by Laura Linney in the Netflix series—a Cleveland-born woman who decides to move to San Francisco after vacationing there.
Vega became the first trans person to be a presenter at the Academy Awards in March. (Netflix)
Singleton meet all kinds of characters during her time in the city from sweet gay guy Michael Tolliver and bisexual hippy Mona Ramsey to menacing roof occupier Norman Neal Williams.
Mary Ann also had a close relationship with her eccentric, marijuana-growing landlady Anna Madrigal. Olympia Dukakis has been cast as Madrigal in the Neflix version.
The ten-part Netflix series, which is set to be released in 2019, sees Singleton return home to San Francisco and the residents of 28 Barbary Lane, reuniting with her child and ex-husband Brian Hawkins (Paul Gross), having not seen them for 20 years.
Vega, who made history when she became the first trans person to be a presenter at the Academy Awards in March, will play a trans woman called Ysela, who has a major role in Madrigal’s life.
Richards is a trans campaigner and actor. (Netflix)
Meanwhile, trans campaigner and actor Richards will star as a young Madrigal.
Bob the Drag Queen is set to play a character called Ida Best, who is the manager of a burlesque club.
Bob the Drag Queen won the eighth series of RuPaul’s Drag Race. (Netflix)
There have already been three television adaptations of Tales of the City, with one produced by Channel 4 and two by Showtime.
Linney, Dukakis, and Gross all starred in the previous TV versions.
Alan Poul (The Newsroom, Grace and Frankie) is set to direct the Netflix show.
The series will also star Matthew Risch, Charlie Barnett, and May Hong.
Talking about the show back in April, Maupin said in a statement: “I couldn’t be more excited about this new brand-new incarnation of Tales.
“It’s set in present-day San Francisco with all the joys and complications that might suggest for the residents of 28 Barbary Lane. Mrs. Madrigal’s tenants, both old and new, will be entangled in delicious new adventures and ever-expanding possibilities for love.”
