Drag Race’s Peppermint and queer icon Nicole Byers shine in first trailer for Netflix’s Survival of the Thickest

Season nine Drag Race finalist Peppermint and Emmy-nominee Nicole Byers have stolen the show in the first trailer for Netflix’s new comedy series, Survival of the Thickest.

It seems that when it comes to quality TV programmes featuring queer (and queer-adjacent) talent, viewers are being well fed by Netflix right now. The streaming service’s Ultimatum: Queer Love shines the spotlight on five chaotic queer couples and the recently announced Glamorous stars actual Kim Cattrall putting the pride in Pride Month.

The latest addition to that list is Survival of the Thickest, which was announced on Wednesday (24 May), and stars comedian Michele Buteau as fashion intern Mavis Beaumont, who’s thick, newly single and ready to mingle.

According to the show’s official synopsis, Mavis “unexpectedly finds herself having to rebuild her life as a struggling stylist” and is “determined to not only survive but thrive with the support of her chosen family, a body positive attitude, and a cute v-neck with some lip gloss”.

Joining Mavis on her journey are Drag Race season nine runner-up trans icon Peppermint, and Emmy nominee Nicole Byers, who often appears as a guest judge on the franchise.

On working on the series, Peppermint told PinkNews that she was initially hesitant, due to the streaming service’s relationship with anti-trans comedians Dave Chapelle and Ricky Gervais.

“I’m doing something new with Netflix, Survival of the Thickest. I did have to sit and think, ‘Well wow, am I being tokenised?’ Because, clearly they are literally financially invested in telling stories and jokes that I believe are harmful to the [trans] community.

“But then, when I sit and think, ‘Wow, they’re giving space to someone like me and [stand-up comic] Michelle Buteau – in her special, she takes on some of these anti-trans jokes, legislation and comments head on.

“We had Black female camera people [on Survival of the Thickest] and I’ve never seen that on set.”

In the series’ trailer, we see Peppermint give Beaumont her best “Alright!” and “Hashtag positivity, hashtag werk, mama!” Byers’ character also tells Mavis: “You wild, girl!” We can’t wait to find out the context of those remarks.

Survival of the Thickest, which stars Buteau as Beaumont, is based on a memoir of the same name – written by Buteau. We stan a multi-talented queen!

Appearing alongside Peppermint, Nicole Byers and Buteau are Tone Bell, Tasha Smith, Liza Treyger, Anissa Felix, Garcelle Beauvais, Taylor Selé, Anthony Michael Lopez, Marouane Zottie, Allan K. Washington and Sarah Cooper.

Survival of the Thickest is executive-produced by showrunnner Danielle Sanchez-Witzel, along with Ravi Nandan (Beef, Ziwe, Ramy, Mo) and Alli Reich (Beef, Ziwe, Euphoria) for A24, as well as Anne Hong (Michelle Buteau: Welcome to Buteaupia).

Survival of the Thickest premieres on Netflix on 13 July 2023.