Netflix drops trailer for ‘gay James Bond’ series full of drag queens and naked daddies
A gay superspy and his LGBT+ squad fight crime in Netflix’s new queer, spy animated series Q-Force. (YouTube/Netflix)
Netflix has released a trailer for Q-Force, and it’s the funny, animated queer spy series we didn’t know we needed.
The series begins with Steve Maryweather – also known as Agent Mary – graduating at the top of his class at the American Intelligence Agency (AIA). During his graduation speech, Maryweather reveals to his classmates that he is gay.
AIA director Dirk Chunley is visibly shocked by the revelation and quickly cuts Maryweather off, revealing that another (straight) agent was now the top of the class. After the ceremony the agency is unable to fire him, but decides to send Maryweather to West Hollywood to “disappear into obscurity”, as per the show’s description.
Instead, Maryweather joins forces with a misfit squad of LGBT+ superspies to fight back at the agency that underestimated them. He recruits expert mechanic Deb, master of drag and disguises Twink and hacker Stat.
After the rogue team solve a major crime, they gain the reluctant approval of the AIA and become “active secret agents”. But they are also told they must welcome a straight man, Agent Rick Buck (voiced by Stranger Things‘ David Harbour) to their team.
At the end of the trailer, it’s revealed that the AIA nicknamed the group the “Q-Force”, with the ‘Q’ standing for queer. Their leader says they could ask the agency to stop it, but Maryweather reveals that he kind of likes the moniker.
The Netflix series is created by Gabe Liedman, who has been a writer for PEN15 and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Liedman will also join the star-studded LGBT+ cast of voice actors on the series, playing the role of Benji in the series.
Will & Grace star Sean Hayes will take on the lead as Maryweather, and comedy legend Wanda Sykes will play the sassy mechanic Deb. Gayme Show producer Matt Rogers and trans actor Patti Harrison will round out the queer cast.
Liedman told Entertainment Tonight that he was inspired to create the series by the idea of a “gay James Bond”. He described how Maryweather has “all the trappings of James Bond”, but he is not taken seriously by his spy agency because of his sexual orientation.
“That felt like this really funny set up for an action-comedy about this incredibly skilled person just bumping up against a wall over and over again,” Leidman said.
He added that it was “important to me to build it out into an ensemble comedy”.
“Just thinking about the LGBTQ+ community, it’s not just this one guy,” Liedman said. “It struck me as a good opportunity to tell the story of the wider community.”
Q-Force debuts on Netflix on 2 September.
