Sex Lives of College Girls creator jokes show is almost ‘too queer’ as fan fave confirmed to be bi

The co-creator of HBO Max series The Sex Lives of College Girls has reflected on putting “so much queerness” in the show as another fan favourite character is confirmed to be part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Warning: spoilers for the season three finale of The Sex Lives of College Girls.

In the season three finale last night (24 January), it was revealed that Amrit Kaur’s character Bela is bisexual, after she enjoyed a kiss with her new friend, Hailey (Melinda Belle Adams).

The following day, she opted to come out proudly to her Essex roommates, adding yet another dose of queer representation to HBO’s most sapphic series yet.

Though Bela has spent much of the three seasons gleefully fawning over men exclusively, her queer exploration isn’t a huge surprise to some fans of the show, who have noticed some possibly queer-coded moments involving the student since season two.

Reflecting on the plot twist, the show’s co-creator Justin Noble has now admitted that he and fellow creator Mindy Kaling have been teasing Bela’s sexuality reveal for quite some time, but confirmed that her storyline wasn’t always destined to be a queer one.

Noble explained to Variety and The Wrap that he wanted Bela’s queer journey to “counterbalance” that of former character Leighton (Reneé Rapp), who began the series fully knowing her sexuality.

He revealed that the creators have been “breadcrumbing” regarding Bela’s sexuality since season two, but didn’t originally intend to make her bisexual when they began season one.

He then mused over the show’s LGBTQ+ representation as a whole, suggesting that he’s not sure if any more characters will come out.

Asked by Variety if two of the show’s other leads, Kimberly (Pauline Chalamet) and Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott), could potentially find themselves on the LGBTQ+ spectrum in future seasons, Noble expressed his worry that the show could possibly become “too queer.”

“God, I hate to ascribe straightness onto someone. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. So I definitely don’t think of them as straight but we haven’t actually pursued that for either of them,” he told Variety of Kimberly and Whitney’s characters.

“We are so excited about all of the queer stories that we can put forward that sometimes, I truly have to be like, ‘Am I making the show too queer?'”

The showrunner went on to reel off the long list of The Sex Lives of College Girls characters who identify as queer, jokingly adding that it may be time for more heterosexual representation.

“There’s so much queerness that I have to have to sometimes pull back, like, ‘There are people who are in heterosexual, monogamous lifestyles, and they maybe need to be seen.’ That’s the new version of representation,” he shared.

The Sex Lives of College Girls is streaming now on HBO Max in the US. The first two seasons are available on ITVX in the UK.

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