Amazon Prime releases sci-fi series ‘Paper Girls’ featuring a queer protagonist
Amazon Prime Video has just added a new series to its roster, ‘Paper Girls’, and it features a queer protagonist among its characters.
The new show is based on a 2015 comic book series of the same name made by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang
Set in the 1980s, the science fiction drama follows four pre-teen female protagonists navigating their coming-of-age while dealing with mysterious forces from the future.
The story focuses on four newspaper delivery girls, Erin (Riley Lai Nelet), Mac (Sofia Rosinsky), KJ (Fina Strazza), and Tiffany (Camryn Jones), who find their route disrupted by a mysterious attack.
The girls soon find themselves caught in the crossfire of a time traveler war, displaced across time, and even encountering their older selves.
The lesbian protagonist in Paper Girls
The show features a diverse cast of characters, with KJ being Jewish, Erin being Vietnamese, Tiffany being black, and Mac being working class.
The plot also reveals queer representation, with one of the girls being a lesbian.
During one of their interactions with their future selves, KJ discovers that her older self has a girlfriend and begins the journey of accepting herself along with her attraction to another character.
The series makes this an explicit and significant part of KJ’s character development instead of leaving it to subtext, a common pitfall with much queer representation.
Like the two-time Eisner Award winner comic, ‘Paper Girls’ has already attracted much praise from both critics and social media.
These cite the show not only for its diversity, but also for its heartfelt exploration of girlhood through stunning writing and character development.
Paper Girls stars look forward to a 2nd season
While no official announcements have been made, the ‘Paper Girls’ finale has set itself up for a second season.
Jones and Rosinsky– who play Tiffany and Mac, respectively– have also expressed their thoughts on their characters’ possible further development.
Jones shared in an interview with Hollywood Life, “I would love to see how [Tiffany’s] relationship would grow with Erin since they are going to be together.”
“I would love to see how her relationship grows with the other two girls after. But I would also really love to see comic elements that weren’t utilized in season 1 be present in season 2,” Jones said.
Rosinsky meanwhile told Collider, “She adopted this shell for the environment around her at home. She has a very rough home life.”
She explained that her character has had to be “very strong to survive” and she cited “the good, positive influence these girls have had on her.”
“I think just seeing her sense of humor come through and seeing her character change– she has a beautiful arc and I just am looking forward to exploring that hopefully,” she said.
For more information about the series, check out the trailer below: