2022 Is the Year TV Finally Got Gay

Spiritually, it started on March 24, 2022. That’s when HBO Max released the final two episodes of Our Flag Means Death. Up until that point, David Jenkins’ comedy had implied that Blackbeard (Taika Waititi) and Stede (Rhys Darby) were just, like, really good friends — don’t look into it. But then, at the end of Episode 9, it happened. The two kissed, and television erupted into rainbows.

OK, that may be an exaggeration. But in more ways than one, 2022 has been the year that has said the quiet part out loud. For too long, our favorite shows have been peppered with queer characters, people who are always good for a one-liner but whose lives, stories, and insecurities were forced to the sidelines in favor of their straighter friends. This was the year that those LGBTQ+ characters were pulled into the spotlight.

It happened in our biggest shows. Severance, Apple TV+’s punk rock examination of corporate hell, found relief in Irving (John Turturro) and Burt’s (Christopher Walken) quiet romance. Their budding love was this only nice part of this never-ending anxiety spiral of a show. Lesbian love played a similar role in HBO’s The White Lotus. In a season full of lies, betrayals, mismatched desires, and unfulfilling sex, the only person to truly get what she wanted was Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore). After years of repression, she finally allowed herself to be with another woman, and even though her time with Mia (Beatrice Grannò) was temporary, it’s implied that she’s better off thanks to her sexual awakening. Hell, one of the most-discussed shows of the year was explicitly about the gay community. Netflix‘s Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story may have gotten heat for its use of LGBTQ+ tags. But because of the victims the real Jeffrey Dahmer targeted, this horrible and tragic story will always be part of queer history.

It happened in reboots, too. For Prime Video‘s A League of Their Own, that meant honestly navigating the minefields of trying to be a queer woman in the 1940s. Willow, a continuation of the classic movie, introduced two women who were clearly in love with each other — they kissed in the premiere — rather than dancing around it for five seasons. And AMC‘s Interview with the Vampire turned the subtext of Anne Rice’s original work into text. Making this an overtly gay love story between Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat (Sam Reid) allowed this series to become a full-blown romance while also exploring the underlying abuse hiding in the corners of that love.

It happened on our tried-and-true favorites. After three seasons of implications, FX’s What We Do in the Shadows finally had a coming out episode for Guillermo (Harvey Guillen) that was as charming, chaotic, and irreverent as the rest of this show. That representation continued during the swan song of Disney’s gorgeous cartoon, The Owl House, a series that championed queer characters from Season 1. Season 2 of Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble’s The Sex Lives of College Girls truly dove into Leighton’s (Reneé Rap) sex life to show the fun side of women loving women. Even American Horror Story, a show that has always taken care to have queer characters, was noticeably gayer in 2022. AHS: NYC dove between several gay and lesbian communities in the 1980s. Though the series has been around for 11 seasons, this was the first time a majority of its leads were explicitly queer.

And it happened on our new favorites. Our Flag Means Death was the big, flashy LGBTQ+ romance of the year. But there was also Netflix’s Heartstopper, an endlessly sweet rom-com about a high school boy (Joe Locke) with a lot of hope and a huge crush on a certain rugby player (Kit Connor). There was also Somebody Somewhere, HBO’s comedy-drama that featured an incredible performance from Jeff Hiller that refused to let his gay character become a stereotype.

There were casualties, as well. Depressingly, it’s still common for networks and streamers to axe queer-led and queer-friendly shows, particularly those featuring romances between two women. We won’t be seeing more from Netflix’s First Kill and Warrior Nun, or Prime Video’s The Wilds. The same goes for HBO’s Los Espookys and Gentleman Jack. And the bloodbath this past spring at The CW led to the end of Batwoman, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and Legacies, all of which centered queer romances, among others. But the fact that these proudly gay shows were even made in the first place? And that there is a much longer list of interesting and insightful LGBTQ+ series that avoided the cancellation axe? That’s progress. It’s slow and frustrating, but it is progress.

This year, we were given lovable wide-eyed teenagers who just wanted to hold a boy’s hand, and bloodthirsty middle-aged pirates who were able to find a new life through love. We saw manipulative and abusive monsters fighting against noble heroes, all of whom happened to share the same sexuality. Time and time again, these characters weren’t treated like sassy best friends or after school specials. They were treated like people, complete with the insecurities, egos, dreams, aspirations, and flaws that make us all human. For years, fans have demanded more and better LGBTQ+ representation. And finally, in 2022, we got to see a glimpse of how wonderful, interesting, and exciting it can be to highlight these stories. Here’s hoping this trend continues in 2023.