KATHERINE MOENNIG
The 41-year-old star of The L Word is back as Shane McCutcheon in sequel series Generation Q (on Stan from Mon., Dec. 9).
Did you have any hesitations about The L Word: Generation Q? No, because [co-stars and co-executive producers] Jennifer Beals, Leisha Hailey and I have been trying to get it made for the past 10 years.
Why is now the right time for the show to come back?
I don’t know, I think this is just the time the network agreed to it. [Laughs] But now actually does seem like more of a right time than it did when we were [last] hoping to do it back in 2014 when the world was a different place. What do you get to tap into now that you mightn’t have back then? Five years ago, here in America, we had a different government, and now everything is so polarised and there’s so much discrimination and hate. It existed then but now it’s really at the forefront. That’s why a show like this is important to open people’s eyes up again. It brings people into a world you might not know about otherwise, that you might have had judgment on. I think we need more of that. Where do we find Shane a decade later? Is she the same old Shane? A little bit, but she is older and that comes with different responsibilities. She’s coming back to LA after a long time. She’s getting away from something and we come to find out what that something is. That gives her somewhere to go rather than just diving into the same old routine. We see some more vulnerability from her, which I always welcome. Did it take you long to get back into character?
It was strange. I probably overthought it. The idea of it was more terrifying than having to physically do it. My first day of filming was a scene with Leisha and Jennifer, and I had the realisation of: “Oh, this feels exactly the same as it did 10 years ago.” Sometimes there are moments of “how did I used to do that?” but it was like visiting an old friend more than anything. What would you say the legacy of The L Word was?
It was the first time the [lesbian] community was able to see themselves. And that’s impactful, it’s important.