Pose’ to end after third season; premiere date announced
'Pose was conceived as a love letter to the underground NY ballroom community, to my beloved New York, to my queer & trans family, to myself.'
After two critically acclaimed seasons, FX’s Pose is set to end this year, with its third and final season premiering in early May.
Co-created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals, Pose took the TV industry by storm when it premiered in 2018. Nominated for Outstanding Drama Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards for its first season, Pose enjoyed positive critical reception and was a trailblazing series in terms of LGBTQ+ representation in the media.
Now, it seems Pose is coming to an unexpected end at FX but exactly as planned by the series creators.
Read More: Billy Porter makes Emmy history with Best Actor win for his role in ‘POSE’
In an official statement, Steven Canals (executive producer, writer, director, and co-creator) shared, “’Write the TV show you want to watch!’ That’s what I was told in 2014 while completing my MFA in screenwriting. At the time we weren’t seeing very many Black and Latinx characters — that happened to also be LGBTQ+ — populating screens. And so I wrote the first draft of a pilot the ‘younger me’ deserved.
Pose was conceived as a love letter to the underground NY ballroom community, to my beloved New York, to my queer & trans family, to myself.”
Canals goes on to say, “I’m filled with gratitude to our intrepid writers, cast, crew, and producers who worked tirelessly to make Pose come to life, humbled by our loyal audience, thankful to the ballroom community who trusted us to tell their story, overwhelmed by the critics who warmly embraced us, and forever indebted to Ryan Murphy, FX, and 20th Television for changing my life.”
Janet Mock, who also serves as a writer, director, and executive producer, said, “My life has been forever changed because of Pose, a drama series that centered around trans and queer people, people living with HIV/AIDS, and Black and Latinx people – without trepidation or apology.
It’s left an indelible mark on our culture, modeling that a TV show can be successful and entertaining while also casting authentically, hiring LGBTQ talent in front of and behind the camera, and moving people living on the margins to center stage.”
Mock made history herself when she joined the Pose team, serving as the first trans woman of color hired as a TV writer, as well as the first transgender woman of color to write and direct an episode of TV.
The show ends holding many other records and “firsts,” including standing as the series with the “largest-ever cast of transgender actors in series regular roles, including Michaela Jaé, Dominique Jackson, Indya Moore and Hailie Sahar.”
The show also stars Billy Porter, who became the first openly gay man to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in the show’s first season.
Many Pose cast members have taken to social media to share their feelings on the show’s final season. Angel Bismark Curiel, who plays Lil Papi on the hit show, shared a video on Instagram with a caption that reads, “Saying Goodbye to POSE ? Y’all don’t know how hard it’s gonna be to say goodbye to these characters, this world, these actors…”
Actor Dyllón Burnside also took to Instagram to speak on the final season of Pose. He says in his video, “We are saying goodbye to the ballroom and to the Evangelistas. It is bittersweet and uh, as we are wrapping up the season we’re all sort of processing it…it has been such a beautiful journey and one that I am so incredibly grateful for.”
Read More: EXCLUSIVE: Dyllon Burnside on his ‘POSE’ role and NYC benefit concert
Executive producer and TV titan Ryan Murphy said in a statement, “Pose has been one of the creative highlights of my entire career. From the very beginning when Steven Canals and I sat down to hear his vision and ideas for the show, it has been a passion project.
To go from the beginning of my career in the late 90s when it was nearly impossible to get an LGBTQ character on television to Pose — which will go down in history for having the largest LGBTQ cast of all time — is a truly full-circle moment for me.”
The third and final season of Pose is set to be seven episodes and will air its season premiere on Sunday, May 2 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX. The series finale will air on June 6.
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