HBO drag series We're Here to stream for free with star-filled pre-show

HBO is feeling its drag queen fantasy with the help of a few major celebrities.

EW can exclusively reveal the premium subscription network's queer docuseries We're Here — which follows performance artists and RuPaul's Drag Race alums Shangela, Eureka, and Bob the Drag Queen making over small-town residents across six rural American locales — will arrive this Thursday via YouTube Premieres, with the free online debut occurring at 9:00 p.m. — the same time as the program's previously announced broadcast debut.

The move marks the first time HBO has made a project available for free at the same time as its network premiere, and the queens will celebrate with a group of celebrity guests during a special pre-screening digital streaming party at 8:30 p.m., with guest appearances by Drew Barrymore, Monét X Change, Hayley Kiyoko, Ellen Pompeo, Andrew Rannells, and Naomi Watts. During the 30-minute special (which will broadcast on HBO's YouTube and Twitter pages), HBO will make two separate donations to LGBTQ-focused charities Free Mom Hugs and Mama Dragons, while viewers will be encouraged to donate as well.

"I’m not a big crier, but I cried," Shangela — who also serves as a consulting producer alongside Eureka and Bob — recently told EW of working on the series, the title for which serves as a play on words announcing the arrival of its fabulous leads, but also as a proclamation of existence for queer people living in traditional America. "This show is something powerful and moving, it’s emotional, and it also has that surprise production element that we were producing a one-night-only show in places that have hardly ever had them, to showcase that there’s this queer community [already there that] they didn’t even know existed."

In addition to its free online debut, We're Here makes its television debut Thursday at 9:00 p.m. on HBO. For more on the series, check out EW's exclusive preview here.

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