What’s New in Queer TV #15: Hal & Harper, The Road, The Monster of Florence
A complicated lesbian love triangle in Hal & Harper, A lesbian country singer on The Road and a bisexual man suspected of crime on the monster of Florence
Welcome to the weekly post where I discuss new additions to my 2025 queer streaming guide.
Aurelie Chazal
Disclaimer: All the shows listed below came out about one month ago because I've noticed that's how long it usually takes me to be able to confidently verify whether a show has queer representation. I'm not able to watch everything, but I'll only include shows that have proven queer characters as verified online through reputable sources.
Hal & Harper • Season 1
MUBI • Family Drama • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Queer-o-meter: 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
Type of queer representation: Lesbian (including a long term couple and new romance)
Hal & Harper has some great and upfront queer rep. Harper, one of the main characters, is gay and her sexuality is just a normal part of her story (it's not a big reveal or drama point). Her relationship with her girlfriend, Jesse (who's Black), plays a central role early in the show, and you get a real sense of their long-term couple vibes. Things also get complicated when Harper starts catching feelings for Audrey, her coworker. So there’s a main queer couple, some romantic tension with another woman, and it's all treated pretty naturally in the story.
Read more about it:
Drew Burnett Gregory
The Road • Season 1
Paramount+ • Music Competition • 🇺🇸 United States • Fate Unknown
Queer-o-meter: 🏳️🌈
Type of queer representation: Lesbian
The Road is a country music competition. Not the type of show you'd expect to find a lot of queer representation, but they do have the one token queer. One of the contestants, Briana Adams, is engaged to a woman. Her queerness doesn't seem to be highlighted in the show, but she's open about her sexuality on social media.
Read more about it:
Andy Dehnart
The Monster of Florence • Season 1
Netflix • True Crime Thriller • 🇮🇹 Italy • Ended
Queer-o-meter: 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
Type of queer representation: Bisexual Man
This is a crime thriller based on a true story. Salvatore Vinci, one of the show's key suspects, is depicted as a closeted gay man or bisexual man whose sexual orientation and repression play a role in his violent behavior. The series is based on a true story, and the real Salvatore was described in court documents as liking both men and women.
Read more about it:
This article on Gay.it that compares the show portrayal to the real Salvatore Vinci
