Grand Army Tackles Queer Issues, Race, Class in Brooklyn High School

The first teaser for the Netflix series based on Katie Cappiello's incendiary play Slut had dropped.

Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

September 02 2020 10:39 AM EST

September 02 2020 10:43 AM EST

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Based on Katie Cappiello's 2013 play Slut, Netflix's Grand Army goes deep into the issues affecting an array of teens at a Brooklyn high school, including the story of Sid (Amir Bageria), a popular gay teen with traditional Indian parents who grapples with coming out.

Starring a cast of relative newcomers, at the core of the show is Odessa A'zion's (Nashville) Joey Del Marco, a wild girl who is sexually assaulted by her best guy friends. What ensues is a look into the still-nebulous area in the post-#MeToo era of whether or not people tend to truly believe survivors of sexual assault.

The series, from Gone Girl producer Joshua Donen and House of Cards's Beau Willimon, also stars Odley Jean as Dominique, a teen with a bright future who juggles helping to support her family with excelling at school. Amalia Yoo plays Leila, who longs to be desired by the popular boy at school while she leaves a mini-trail of destruction behind her. Rounding out the central storylines is Maliq Johnson as Jayson Jackson, a talented saxophonist whose best friend is unfairly punished for a prank they pulled that went wrong.

The acclaimed directors of the series represent an array of identities including women, Black, Asian, queer, and trans people. They include So Yong Kim, Darnell Martin, Tina Mabry, Silas Howard, and Clement Virgo.