Queer stories are making noise across television, film and theatre, from a raunchier return for Benito Skinner’s Overcompensating to Kerr Smith’s memories of backlash on Dawson’s Creek. This week’s headlines also bring playful actor-to-actor banter, a bisexual actor’s reflections on marriage, and fresh hope for a cult musical’s future.
Essential Takeaways
- Overcompensating turns up the heat: Benito Skinner says season two will be gayer and sexier, with some scenes too steamy for family viewing.
- A crush, not a confirmed romance: Jordan Firstman jokes that he once imagined marrying Andrew Scott, while their conversation is presented as friendly banter.
- A painful Dawson’s Creek memory: Kerr Smith recalls homophobic abuse and protests over his character’s coming-out story.
- Bat Boy remains a possibility, not a plan: Taylor Trensch hopes the musical could return, but there’s no confirmed transfer.
- Bisexuality and lasting love: Mike Manning’s profile reflects on coming out, marriage and his acting career.
Queer TV is getting steamier
Benito Skinner says Overcompensating will return for a second season that’s gayer and sexier than the first. The comedy follows Benny, a closeted college student navigating relationships, sexuality and the prospect of coming out to his family. Skinner has joked that some scenes may be off-limits for family viewing, which sounds like a very particular kind of season-night dilemma.
According to Out, Skinner has heard calls for the show to lean further into queer storytelling and says the next instalment will do just that, while keeping its awkward humour. The coverage also teases a hookup between Benny and fraternity brother Miles, alongside other intimate encounters. The season is expected to premiere on 17 February 2027, with Aisha Day joining the cast.
A crush, a kiss and difficult memories
Jordan Firstman and Andrew Scott’s conversation is more flirtatious friendship than secret romance. Just Jared reports that Firstman recalled having a major crush on Scott and imagining, when they began messaging, that the actor might become his husband. The pair joked about whether their pandemic-era time together counted as dates, but the article clarifies that an earlier description suggesting they had dated was corrected.
The exchange took place at the Telluride Film Festival, where Firstman was promoting Club Kid and Scott was discussing Elsinore. Their easy teasing offers a lighter take on queer life in Hollywood, but another recent interview revisits a much harsher experience.
PinkNews reports that Kerr Smith, who played Jack McPhee on Dawson’s Creek, was nervous filming the character’s kiss with another boy; it took ten takes. Smith also recalled finding his car covered in red graffiti containing homophobic slurs while filming The Forsaken in Yuma, Arizona, around 2001. He said he kept the incident to himself for years, and remembered protests outside the show’s Wilmington studio over Jack’s storyline.
The hostility hasn’t erased what the character meant to viewers. Smith has said people have told him Jack’s journey changed their lives, a striking reminder that representation can stay with an audience long after a scene has aired. His memoir, I Don’t Want to Wait: My Life on Dawson’s Creek, was due for US and Australian release on 10 November, with UK publication scheduled for 26 November.
Cult musicals, big-screen ambition
Taylor Trensch is hopeful that Bat Boy could return to New York, but there’s no concrete news of another production or a Broadway transfer. BroadwayWorld reports that Trensch, who played Edgar in a New York City Center gala staging, sees the idea as daunting in a market where a niche musical must compete for attention with movie stars and familiar titles.
The show first premiered in Los Angeles in 1997 and later opened Off-Broadway in 2001, building a devoted following. Trensch joked about its physical demands and the spectacle it might need to compete with Lost Boys, another musical inspired by a cult horror film. For now, the gala cast recording is available digitally and through streaming services, while a longer engagement remains speculation.
Meanwhile, Variety’s coverage of La Bola Negra places the film within a broader conversation about queer representation, historical conflict and ambitious filmmaking. The project brings together Spanish directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, known as Los Javis, and musician and actor Guitarricadelafuente. Its framing suggests a production that treats queer storytelling as expansive, rather than a small side category.
Mike Manning on identity and marriage
Mike Manning’s story offers a personal counterpoint to fears that coming out might close off the possibility of marriage or family life. Instinct reports that Manning publicly came out as bisexual at 22 while appearing on MTV’s The Real World: D.C. He later married Nicholas Tocco in 2017, and the profile stresses that bisexuality isn’t a temporary identity or a rulebook for relationships.
Manning’s career has also continued to grow. He won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor for The Bay in 2021, and plays Bradley “Smitty” Smith on CBS’s Beyond the Gates. His work on the latter earned him another Daytime Emmy nomination in 2026. The point isn’t that one person’s life can answer every question, but his story makes room for a future that includes both openness and commitment.
Queer stories can be funny, intimate, ambitious or painfully difficult, often all at once.
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