We're Here cast explains Jaida Essence Hall and Latrice Royale's 'swap out' and season 4's 'new structure'

You can't maximize your joint slay without corralling as many drag queens as possible — and that's exactly why HBO's We're Here season 4 bucked the docuseries' tradition and added an additional RuPaul's Drag Race alum to the mix of new cast members, the stars tell EW.

Two months after EW broke the news in July 2023 that We're Here would replace original cohosts Bob the Drag Queen, Shangela, and Eureka on the Emmy-winning series with Drag Race franchise winners Sasha Velour, Jaida Essence Hall, and Priyanka, the network further revealed that fan-favorite queen Latrice Royale would join the trio to bring the overall host count to four for the first time in series history. Rumors circulated at the time that Jaida exited the show early, but the cast explains to EW at SCAD TVfest that the casting shift is yet another part of the show's continuously evolving structure.

Season 4 is “definitely a new structure,” says Latrice, who appeared on RuPaul's Drag Race season 4, and All Stars 1 and 4. "You'll see me and Jaida interchange, and we'll swap out. But, we all worked brilliantly together, so that's the magic of the show."

"The show is doing something different this time, we're just switching it up," Drag Race season 12 champion Jaida explains. "We still want to have the format of three queens in each city so you can focus without having to be so expansive, there's a lot that could happen with four queens. I don't know if there's enough room for all four of us," Jaida says.

"I will say, Latrice came and she swung in. The most important thing is that, again, it allows for us to tell more stories, each queen is different," Jaida, who also competed on All Stars 7 , continues, also insisting that she's in it for the long haul despite what "haters" may have tried to drum up.

"I completely enjoyed the work that I did while I was shooting for the show, and I don't think that it's over, honey, for the haters," she says. "But Latrice came in and she also brought an incredible energy that the show needed. There's nothing wrong with making sure that when you see the show, the more queens that are there, the more stories that we can tell, the better the show will be. I'm so glad Latrice was able to be there to make sure we had a great season."

Another change is We're Here season 4 will focus on communities near two primary locations: Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Tulsa, Okla., instead of a new city every episode.

"We're exploring less cities this time and spending more time in communities where we go deep into the stories and share a lot more of the experiences of the people who will be sharing their experience with us," Jaida explains.

Priyanka, who won Canada's Drag Race season 1, calls the cast "chaotic" and says audiences are "going to laugh as much as you're going to cry."

We're Here has a long history of documenting homophobia, transphobia, and other pushback throughout the country, including in St. George, Utah, where local officials even attempted to block production on season 3 over filming permits. The incoming queens also found themselves facing tense moments during filming where they faced opposition to queer people in the rural locales — particularly in Tennessee, where local governments have pushed a wave of anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation.

"There are a lot of moments" that shook the cast, Sasha, who won Drag Race season 9, recalls. "The world has changed. We're all experiencing in our real lives, on social media, just a greater amount of misinformation around queer people, of fear and hatred and shame surrounding what we do, which we know could not be further from the reality. Faced with opposition, directly in our faces, sometimes screaming at us, we somehow managed to channel this beautiful power of drag to stay calm, to combat myth with fact, and to just show what is so great about what we do."

Still, Priyanka says the dynamic among the cast was a healthy and fun one, despite outside pushback.

"It's four Beyoncés here, so that's why we get along," the Canadian queen says, while Jaida jokes back: "That's the thing a Michelle would say."

We're Here season 4 premieres April 26 on HBO. Watch a portion of EW's interview with the new cast above.

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