{"id":45107,"date":"2021-11-22T13:39:10","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T13:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=45107"},"modified":"2021-12-19T17:01:11","modified_gmt":"2021-12-19T17:01:11","slug":"netflix-show-sex-education-releases-an-open-casting-call-for-transgender-actors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/netflix-show-sex-education-releases-an-open-casting-call-for-transgender-actors\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix show &#8216;Sex Education&#8217; releases an open casting call for transgender actors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>As season 4 is on the way, viewers of <i>Sex Education<\/i> can get ready to invite two new trans characters into their homes.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Following the show&#8217;s previous seasons, the writers have chosen to incorporate a trans couple which will&nbsp; allow the audience to navigate through their experience with their families, the lgbtq+ community and their relationship. The significance of this announcement follows the shows casting of non-binary actor Dua Saleh, for the character Cal.&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The effort behind the show is impressive and has been celebrated by many of the lgbtq+ community for spearheading the film and tv industry by being inclusive and understanding of their struggles. By integrating their narrative into a popular Netflix series, producers and writers have broadened the minds of their diverse audience. In casting the actor for Cal, Laurie Nunn,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/about.netflix.com\/en\/news\/meet-the-actor-playing-sex-educations-non-binary-character\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the show&#8217;s creator spoke<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on how it was important \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to make sure we were approaching that narrative with authenticity\u201d, and as a result they talked to non-binary consultants.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Previously, the show has been praised for talking about sex in an entertaining and educating way for its younger audience members. From featuring different relationship dynamics and presenting sex as an enjoyable and healthy part of growing, the shows consideration for involving actual lgbtq+ community members is immensely important in spearheading inclusiveness in the industry.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The casting call was released through a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KrishnaIstha\/status\/1461111137802416129\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">tweet<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by Krishna Istha, writer of the critically acclaimed show, who announced that they were excited to invite trans actors of any or no experience to audition for the roles of Abbi and Kent. In the character description Abbi is described as being \u2018a young trans woman with a 90s Winona Ryder vibe\u2019 alongside her boyfriend Kent who is \u2018trans-masculine, goofy, forgetful and a great listener\u2019. The casting call has excited many fans of the show.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">If I wasn\u2019t in closet pre-HRT right now, I would be all over this opportunity. Best of luck to everyone applying. It\u2019s so good to see trans representations on tv, and I\u2019m soooo excited for new season when it finally comes out.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Milly (@MillyB99_) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MillyB99_\/status\/1461129066497683463?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 18, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\">https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js<\/a>&#8220;]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The overall outlook on this is generally positive as it is necessary for those that are trans to see positive and regular relationships like theirs broadcasted on a platform easily accessed by others. It not only allows the trans community to feel represented but it allows them to be widely understood by the public that may not be generally used to seeing such dynamics in your regular tv show or in day to day life. This is especially important as there has been a constant rise (25%)&nbsp; in transphobic hate crimes in the UK within the last two years alone as reported in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/av\/uk-54486122\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">BBC<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Anthony Lexa, 21, trans woman picked up on this by mentioning that , \u201cpeople need to realise how important representation is. Displaying transgender characters and their struggles on programmes as main stream as Sex Education can help the community feel seen and make them feel better.\u201d She also said that, \u201cIt can also educate those around them, when they struggle to do so, creating a safer and more empathetic environment\u201d.&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The importance of inclusivity is indescribable for anyone within the lgbtq+ community. There haven&#8217;t been many shows that have been dedicated to representing them through mainstream media forms, however, the<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> show <em>\u2018Pose\u2019<\/em> was one of the first to vehemently defy this. Set in 1987, the show follows the LGBTQ ball dancing scene in New York, with the show being successful for having \u2018the largest cast of trans actors in TV history\u2019, as described in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/arts-entertainment\/tv\/features\/pose-film-review-ryan-murphy-ballroom-drama-movie-video-a8829691.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the independent<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Similarly to <em>Sex Education,<\/em> this was widely supported and praised by the lgbtq+ community.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">With its great support for the shows inclusion of trans actors, <em>Pose<\/em> and <em>Sex Education<\/em> may push other shows to go down a similar route. The Open call was released on the 17th of November 2021 with shooting for the show taking place between April-November 2022.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Best of luck to those that apply.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Words by: Hannah Ozkadi | Subbed by: Tia Janowski.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As season 4 is on the way, viewers of Sex Education can get ready to invite two new trans characters into their homes. Following the show&#8217;s previous seasons, the writers have chosen to incorporate a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":45111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,54,93,128],"tags":[1203,3663,4416,5553],"class_list":["post-45107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-film-2","category-news","category-top-story","tag-casting-call","tag-lgbtq","tag-netflix","tag-sex-education"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45107"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47404,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45107\/revisions\/47404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}