Jane Krakowski, Drag Race royalty join RuPaul in first AJ and the Queen trailer
How do you send a drag queen into cardiac arrest? Judging by EW’s exclusive trailer (above) for RuPaul’s upcoming Netflix show AJ and the Queen, you just have to tell her you’ve never heard of Diana Ross.
The admission — made by a feisty 10-year-old — literally knocks the Emmy-winning drag superstar off her heels in the first full-length preview of the dramedy series, which sees RuPaul hitting the road (with television royalty in tow) on a cross-country journey in a vintage RV.
Playing a down-on-her-luck drag queen, Ruby Red, in his first leading role in a scripted television project, RuPaul rebuilds the crimson-haired diva’s life after her criminal ex-boyfriend (The Other Two‘s Josh Segarra) and his one-eyed accomplice (Tia Carrere) make off with $100,000 of Ruby’s savings.
Broke and hungry for cash in the wake of her lover’s betrayal, Ruby is forced to take her traveling act across the nation from club to club, all while caring for a child stowaway (newcomer Izzy G.) who tests her patience (and her parenting skills) along the way.
EW previously revealed that RuPaul kept it in the family — the RuPaul’s Drag Race sisterhood, to be exact — when building the supporting cast for the show, which includes 22 alums from the VH1 reality series as fellow drag queens Ruby encounters on her trip. The trailer teases appearances by fan-favorite Drag Race girls Bianca Del Rio, Jujubee, Valentina, Eureka O’Hara, Pandora Boxx, Jade Jolie, Kennedy Davenport, Chad Michaels, Jaymes Mansfield, Latrice Royale, and Trinity The Tuck, though additional queens (namely Katya, Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, Jinkx Monsoon, Ginger Minj, Manila Luzon, and more) are also set for guest-starring spots during season 1.
30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Jane Krakowski also shows up in the trailer, briefly dancing with RuPaul as spectators look on.
“He had to throw his hair around to a song, and he really throws himself into s—t. He threw his head around like Ann-Margret slash go-go girl for, like, 12 takes. Next day, he couldn’t stand up because he dislodged one of his inner ear crystals,” Michael Patrick King, who co-created, wrote, and produced the program with RuPaul, recently told Vanity Fair of his star’s commitment to the character, which saw the LGBTQ icon filming his remaining scenes while sitting down instead of taking the day off.
“Our humanity, our laughter, our sense of irony. Fashion. Everything. It’s all in there. I couldn’t be more proud,” RuPaul continued, while King added: “After [Ru] saw the first episode, he turned to me and said, ‘I thought this was going to be the show where I revealed myself to the world. It turns out it’s the show where I reveal myself to myself.’”
AJ and the Queen premieres Jan. 10 on Netflix. Watch EW’s exclusive reveal of the full-length trailer above.
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