'Trinkets' lacks a coming-out moment because it wanted to portray realistic LGBTQ characters, says actor Brianna Hildebrand
This article contains spoilers on 'Trinkets' season 1.
Netflix's latest teen drama 'Trinkets' comes loaded with a lot of unique features. From showing a teen struggling to process the recent loss of her mother to her adjusting in a new environment while indulging in her regular habit of shoplifting, there is a lot to talk about when it comes to the show. But one of the most vividly refreshing highlights of this debut season has proven to be the way the show addresses and explore the said teen, Elodie Davis' sexuality.
Played by Brianna Hildebrand - everyone's favorite Negasonic Warhead from 'Deadpool' - we see Elodie coursing through the struggles of a regular teen trying to fit in. And never in the story is it directly mentioned that Elodie aka Led, is a lesbian. There's no big coming out story in the coming-of-age tale, neither is there the signature confrontation scene which recent shows and films on the topic have been known to bank upon.
Led finds a woman she really likes, and that's it. It's a regular girl meets girl scenario where being gay is treated as just another matter of fact. Albeit, the story is about a shoplifting teen finding unusual friendships in classmates she would have never considered friends, in its own way 'Trinkets' shatters the stigma around coming out but none of it feels shoved down the viewers' throats.
"I think that was always the plan," said Hildebrand in an exclusive interview with MEA Worldwide (MEAWW). "I remember sitting down with the writers and the producers and before I had signed on to the show, we just talked about how they were planning on making Elodie's storyline queer. We talked about coming out, and I mentioned that when I was in high school, I was out, and there were a lot of other people in my high school who were out. And it just kind of was what it was, and I just thought that was more realistic in today's world, and I think they thought so too," she added. "I think that was always the plan; there was never going to be a big coming-out moment or anything."
'Trinkets' joins the league of several recent young adult teen shows that have dabbled with inclusivity, some of them succeeding incredibly while others turning out to be disastrous. Where it stands apart from all the other shows is of course in terms of dealing with Led's sexuality, as well as the "really solid female friendship between the three leads" played by Hildebrand, Kiana Madeira (as Moe), and Quintessa Swindell (as Tabitha.)
But none of that makes Hildebrand gush any less about Hollywood's constant efforts at being inclusive of all genders, races, and sexualities in the contemporary world. "I think that it definitely wouldn't have happened 10 to 20 years ago," she remarked about how far the industry has come. "We wouldn't have had so many queer characters represented in such different lights because I feel like back in the day, it was like, 'Hey, I'm coming out.' Like 'Mom, dad, I have something terrible to tell you,' and it was all sort of negative. It was a very stereotypical light that queer people were seen in, and so were trans people, and everyone else in the queer community. So, I think it's really cool and refreshing that this is happening now, and I think Netflix is doing a great job of spicing everything up, while also interjecting a little diversity to what they do."
That being said, at its core, 'Trinkets' is still very much about the story of a girl processing grief, while making unusual friends on the way, portraying some bits of which was a challenge for Hildebrand as she has often been offered the angsty-teen rebel so far, based on her exceptional work in 'Deadpool'. "That (the grief aspect) was really a challenge for me," she said, quickly adding, "But I was excited to play Led because I thought that she was just so unlike any character I've played before. I got a lot of roles after 'Deadpool' which were sort of guarded angsty characters which are really fun for me to play. But I just wanted to add some variety."
It wasn't all though. Based on the young adult novel by Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith, who serves as executive producer for the show, 'Trinkets', the series, comes from Amy Andelson and Smith. And it was the thrill of slipping into the shoes of a role never explored before that drew Hildebrand in. As she says, "The fact that she's grieving while she's just in a new school and so uncomfortable, is what I thought would be really fun and interesting to get to play. Just a space that I never really lived in on camera before."
'Trinkets' premiered June 14 on Netflix and the first season is available for streaming now.