The L Word: Generation Q's Marja Lewis-Ryan on Diversity and Avoiding Tokenism

The L Word: Generation Q, the reboot of The L Word, is set to premiere this fall on Showtime. With casting announcements left and right, newcomers like Sophie Giannamore, Olivia Thirlby,Arienne Mandi, and Leo Sheng will help usher in the show for a new group of viewers. They'll be joined by returning cast members Jennifer Beals, Leisha Hailey, and Katherine Moennig, and they will incorporate bisexual and trans identities more authentically than in the original series.

Screenwriter and playwright Marja-Lewis Ryan (The Four-Faced Liar) is the showrunner of the reboot, and she spoke about diversity in the writers' room and avoiding tokenism at a panel for the documentary Queering the Script (about queer female fandom) at Los Angeles's LGBTQ film festival Outfest last weekend. The film includes an interview with L Word creator Ilene Chaiken and a discussion about the show's place in queer TV history

During the panel, Ryan spoke about the importance of diverse representation on-screen and behind the scenes.

"I'm of this community and not the original, and because of that, my worldview is quite different," Ryan said. "Having storytellers on the other side is really important. We got somebody in almost every department who represents the trans and nonbinary experience."

"The beauty of television is that I don't have to imagine very much. I get to hire a roomful of writers," Ryan said about staffing a room that represents a breadth of identities.