The reboot machine needs more food to survive, and so Showtime is reportedly developing a sequel to its early-2000s hit, The L Word. Though the network has not yet officially commented, multiple outlets are now reporting that the show is indeed coming back, and Entertainment Weekly has a new interview with star Jennifer Beals talking about narrative plans for the reboot. L Word creator Ilene Chaiken will executive-produce, and returning stars Beals, Kate Moennig, and Leisha Hailey will produce this time around as well. Chaiken cannot have a larger role with the revival because of her showrunner duties on Fox’s Empire, so the network is in search of a new writer to fill the role. On Twitter, Take My Wife’s Rhea Butcher has already enthusiastically offered up her services, and Roxane Gay says she is ready to join the writers’ room.
The three legacy stars would “appear” in the new show and “connect to what is said to be a new ensemble of women,” with the series focusing on the lives (and chart activity) of those characters, THR reports. Other cast members, like Sarah Shahi (Carmen), Pam Grier (Kit), Laurel Holloman (Tina), and even Erin Daniels (Dana) and Mia Kirshner (Jenny) could show up in the sequel. To bring back Dana and Jenny, though, would mean either soft-focus flashbacks to better days (were there better days with Jenny?), or pretending the sixth and final season never happened and just (spoiler alert) retconning the breast-cancer death of Dana. Honestly, the Dana rewrite should happen anyway, as Chaiken does cite her savage decision to kill the character as her biggest regret from the show. Now is the time to right that decadelong wrong — and to spring for a new theme song! Someone get a gallon of coffee delivered to Butcher and her wife, Cameron Esposito. They’ve got a pilot to write.
