After teasing the show last month, Netflix has now released the full trailer for its upcoming Tales of the City sequel.
A follow-up to the 90s TV adaption of Armistead Maupin’s novels, the trailer sees protagonist Mary Ann Singleton (played by Laura Linney) return to her old San Francisco home 20 years after she left.
Opening with an interview-style narration by Singleton’s ex-landlady Anna Madrigal (reprised by Olympia Dukakis), the eccentric character tells the camera she’s lived at 28 Barbary Lane since 1966, recalling, “I suppose it was a different place then, but in some ways not at all.”
Though many years have passed, Barbary Lane’s exuberant atmosphere hasn’t changed a bit, as we see the new generation explaining its transformative influence on them. Introducing a variety of new characters, as well as reuniting viewers with returning actors, the trailer centres on the storyline of Singleton’s daughter Shawna (Ellen Page) as she grapples with her mother’s return.
Throwing a spanner into the assumed plot, we hear Singleton exclaim, “She thinks I am her biological mother”, before Madrigal’s voiceover professes, “Sometimes the truth is a burden you have to carry alone.”
The invigorating trailer is, of course, also full of wonderful LGBTQ+ scenes, heartwarming relationships and glamorous drag. Maupin’s books and the subsequent TV show have consistently been praised for spotlighting LGBTQ+ issues, with the novels regarded as some of the first to deal with the Aids crisis. Supporting the community both on- and off-screen, Netflix’s reprisal has an entirely queer writing team as well as LGBTQ+ producers and editors.
Watch the trailer below, and look out for the Tales of the City landing on Netflix on June 7.