36% of LGBTQ TV Characters Won’t Be Returning Next Season, Says GLAAD
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GLAAD’s annual “Where We Are on TV” report — which tracks the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual+, transgender and queer characters — is out, and a key finding is that 36% of TV’s LGBTQ characters will not be returning next season, for several reasons including series being cancelled.
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What’s more, LGBTQ-inclusive shows such as The Rookie: Feds, once cancelled, are not being replaced with similarly inclusive programs. As one result, LGBTQ inclusion on broadcast-TV series declined to a six-year low.
The GLAAD report acknowledges that a “fraction” of the decrease in LGBTQ characters on TV can be attributed to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes that shut down Hollywood last summer and led to returns and premieres being delayed. But also, new inclusive programming was not ordered to replace cancelled series such as Feds, Legends of Tomorrow and Gotham Knights. “In fact,” the study says on Page 11, “there is not a single series currently on broadcast TV that has an LGBTQ character as the sole protagonist.”
Why does inclusion matter? GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in her executive summary cites surveys that say “LGBTQ inclusion in entertainment is important to more than two in every five of all American adults, and “super majorities of LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ 18-24 year olds actively seek out queer-inclusive media — but only 38% are satisfied with how LGBTQ people are presented.”
And according to Gallup, Ellis says, “more than one in five adult Gen Z Americans self-identify as LGBTQ”; across 30 counties, the number is 18%.
Here are a few curated bullets from GLAAD’s Where We Are on TV report, which looked at primetime scripted series that premiered or are expected to premiere a new season between June 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024:
THE HEADLINES
▶ Out of 454 series regular characters across broadcast TV, this year 39 (or 8.6%) are LGBTQ — a decrease of 31 characters/2% from last year. Among recurring characters, 64 are LGBTQ, down 37. On cable, there are 77 total LGBTQ characters (series regular and recurring), down 62 vs. last year. Streaming meanwhile tallied 327 total LGBTQ characters, down 29.
▶ Out of all LGBTQ characters, 48% are men, 47% are women, and 5% are nonbinary; 36% are gay, 25% are lesbian, 24% are bisexual, 10% are queer and 5.1% are transgender.
▶ Quite notably, 36% of the LGBTQ characters accounted for in GLAAD’s latest report will not be returning in the next measurement period, due to series ending or being cancelled, the character dying or leaving the show, or a program’s miniseries/anthology format.
Just a few of the LGBTQ-inclusive shows not returning are A League of Their Own, The Other Two, Single Drunk Female, Grease: The Rise of the Pink Ladies, Gotham Knights (cancelled in June, shortly after the last Where We Ae on TV report came out), La Brea, The Good Doctor, Minx, Billions, Hightown, Our Flag Means Death, Star Trek: Discovery and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. (Very recent cancellations such as NCIS: Hawai’i and So Help Me Todd are not accounted for in the new report.)
BROADCAST TV
▶ Broadcast TV recorded its lowest LGBTQ representation (8.6% of all series regular characters, down 2% YOY) since the 2017-18 TV season. With recurring characters folded in, broadcast TV had 64 LGBTQ characters — less than half of the 2021-22 TV season total.
A “fraction” of that loss is blamed on the strikes, which among other things bumped The CW’s All American: Homecoming and Fox’s 9-1-1: Lone Star to summer and fall of 2024, respectively, and delayed other returns/premieres. But new inclusive programming has not been ordered to replace cancelled series such as The Rookie: Feds and Gotham Knights.
▶ ABC boasts the highest LGBTQ inclusion (15%, thanks in part to its acquisition of Fox’s 9-1-1), followed by CBS (which typically places last in this report, but this year registered 9.2%), NBC (7.3%), The CW (6.3%, and, under new management, for the first time in seven years didn’t rank No. 1), and Fox (5.2%, with 9-1-1: Lone Star pushed).
CABLE TV
▶ Primetime scripted cable programming tallied 77 total LGBTQ characters, down 45% from last year. Nearly 40 of those LGBTQ characters will not be returning, due to series being cancelled/ending, characters dying/leaving, or the miniseries/anthology format.
▶ FX and Showtime led the cable-TV pack with 15 LGBTQ characters each — thanks largely to seven on What We Do in the Shadows and nine in Fellow Travelers. GLAAD notes that with WWDITS entering its final season, Breeders cancelled, and FEUD, Justified: City Primeval and American Horror Story having miniseries/anthology formats, FX is bound for a steep decline. Starz had 11 LGBTQ characters, though eight will not be returning, and Freeform and HBO had eight and five LGBTQ characters (down from last year’s 16 and 26).
▶ HBO’s decline is in part due to The Last of Us, Euphoria and Somebody Somewhere all being between seasons. As for Freeform, this marks the first time in a decade that it did not land in cable’s Top 3 — and with the network scrapping scripted fare, GLAAD laments the “end of an LGBTQ-inclusive era for Freeform.”
STREAMING
▶ Scripted streaming series had 327 total LGBTQ characters, down just 0.8% YOY — though 119 of ’em won’t return this year.
▶ Netflix leads with 47% inclusion, thanks in part to Sex Education, Young Royals, The Fall of the House of Usher and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World — and with Stranger Things, The Umbrella Academy and XO, Kitty between seasons. But of Netflix’s 155 LGBTQ characters, 59 won’t return.
▶ Prime Video had 54 LGBTQ characters (up 11 YOY, though 16 won’t return); Max had 38 (up four, 19 won’t return); Hulu had 25 (down 12), Paramount+ had 21 (up 11), Apple TV+ was steady with 11, Disney+ had 10 (down four, and due for a drop-off with HMS:TM:TS now dunzo).
RACE AND ETHNICITY
▶ Four years ago, GLAAD challenged the networks/streamers to have 50% of their LGBTQ characters be of color. Broadcast (with 48%) and cable (48%) fell short this year, while streaming dipped a point to 50%.
▶ On broadcast TV, 25% of LGBTQ characters are Black, 9% are Asian-Pacific Islander (API), 6% Latine, NCIS: Hawai’i‘s Lucy was the lone MENA (Middle East/North Africa), and zero were indigenous.
▶ On cable, 30% of LGBTQ characters were Black, 7% Latine, 5% API, 4% MENA and one indigenous.
▶ On streaming, 17% of LGBTQ characters were Black, 10% Latine, 9% API, 3% MENA and 2% indigenous.
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