I Dont Think Bette Cheated on Tina Again. Im Pretty Sure They Were Already Divorced. çâ¿â»ã¨â¨â³

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[This story contains spoilers from the Jan. 12 episode of Beginning's The L Word: Generation Q.]

Bette and Tina are dorsum together again. Well, sorta.

Dominicus's episode of Showtime's The L Word: GenerationQ staged a reunion that was a decade in the making as Jennifer Beals and Laurel Holloman reunited onscreen, with the latter making a surprise invitee appearance to reprise her role as Bette's ex-married woman, Tina Kennard.

"It felt very surreal," says Holloman, who retired from acting and has been thriving as a painter for much of the decade since the original series wrapped.

It has been more than than a decade since audiences saw the fan favorite, on-once more, off-once again original 50 Word couple together. Bette and Tina's oftentimes turbulent relationship ended with the couple in a expert place as they were last seen raising their daughter, Angie, together, and heading for New York to legally necktie the knot. Nonetheless, Generation Q revealed that Bette and Tina had recently divorced and were co-parenting Angie. The freshman Offset drama from original series creator Ilene Chaiken and showrunner Marja-Lewis Ryan revealed before long afterwards that Tina surprisingly left Bette and savage in love with someone else. "That was i matter we really had to work on to exercise very quickly — to fill in all the gaps," Beals toldThe Hollywood Reporter in a joint interview with Holloman ahead of Sunday's episode.

The divorce was a result of Holloman's schedule. She was in Paris when Generation Q began production, and the former actress and Beals — who remain fiercely protective of the iconic couple — worked with Ryan and Chaiken to come up with the storyline. "Information technology was a souvenir because I do co-parent," Holloman tells THR.

Although Tina's presence looms in Generation Q — Bette has been shown having calls with her ex — Sunday'due south episode was the first time Holloman appeared onscreen during the new show. "I am constantly imagining her," Beals says of scenes in which Tina has been involved but never seen or heard. "She'south in my DNA."

Tina'due south return came as Bette found herself in hot water, having pushed the hubby of a woman with whom she had an affair down the stairs in a bid to protect Angie (Jordan Hull). Bette, who is running for mayor of Los Angeles, finds herself swarmed by the press and begins to consider dropping out of the race. Tina, as she has ever washed for Bette since the beginning of The L Discussion, arrives at her door to talk some sense into her ex. "It was a neat time for me to land on the porch," Holloman says with a laugh. Adds Beals: "Everybody was just a mess because information technology was so emotional to have Tina back. It was like, OK, we are finally family unit now."

In an exclusive articulation interview with THR, Beals and Holloman dig into what it was like to reunite on fix, if Tina volition play a bigger role in the future of the series and the complexities of casting queer stars to play queer roles.

What was it similar filming this episode?

Holloman: I have another career and it'southward been viii or nine years since I have even acted at all. I felt like if I was going to go dorsum and act once more, Jennifer is the all-time safety net in the globe. Information technology felt very surreal. It was like getting dorsum on the wheel again and then knowing that you lot've got this partner with y'all that is going to catch yous if you lot fall. There is something about the character that is so in both of our DNA that at that place is always some truthful moment going on.

Beals: It was this odd feeling as if no fourth dimension had passed and as if nosotros were dreaming.

Holloman: It felt very surreal.

Beals: Information technology's wonderful to have a scene partner where you can only look across at them and nothing has to be spoken, but you've lived this history together. Even though it'south an imaginary history, it'due south a history that feels real. Having Laurel back as a scene partner was truly a dream. We went through so many dissimilar things [with the original serial] that were and then intense, so joyful and so painful. Then, to just exist in the same scene with another person with whom you've lived through so much was just a joy every bit an thespian.

Holloman: It'due south rare to have that many years with someone and explore and then many dynamics of a spousal relationship and a breakup and children and family. It's pretty loaded.

Beals: That was one affair we really had to work on to practise very quickly — to make full in all the gaps — because when we left off everything was happy and wonderful; going off to New York to be married and and so we come dorsum it's like, OK now we are divorced and co-parenting.

How much of a part, if whatsoever, did you both have in deciding Bette and Tina would exist divorced?

Beals: Laurel has a very vibrant, powerful career as a painter. So, it'south not equally if she could come back in every episode; she has things that are meaningful that she is working on. It was clear early because of Laurel's schedule. To presume that somebody could fifty-fifty be a regular with that schedule is not possible. And then it became about figuring out what the story was if the person can come in for a limited amount of time. Talking to Ilene and Marja, the storyline of co-parenting and complexities of co-parenting later divorce is interesting, so we pigeon in with that.

Holloman: It was a souvenir because I do co-parent. I have been divorced from my partner since my children were 2 and 5. And I have a 15-year-sometime daughter, who was in my belly during the second season of the original show. It was a little complex in that Tina is the one away and she'southward going for her career, which we haven't quite seen. I was struggling with a certain sort of abandonment, but I thought, 'Well, what'south the difference between a child going to boarding school at fourteen?' So I felt like she went at a time where it didn't expect to her so much equally abandonment, merely it also makes a huge statement on how much she trusts Bette as a co-parent and I idea that was an interesting dynamic.

What was it like on set up when y'all both reunited?

Beals: Information technology felt airheaded because all of united states were together. Kate [Moennig, who reprises her role as Shane McCutcheon] and Leisha [Hailey, Alice Pieszecki], were there. Fifty-fifty though Leisha exits the scene before Tina arrives, we were all in that location together so it was just actually fun communicable up.

Holloman: Information technology felt surreal and deja-vu-y. At one point, Alice walked out and I felt similar we had just done a scene similar that like it were yesterday.

Beals: The tabular array read for this episode was like no tabular array read I take ever been at. People could not stop crying. There is the scene with Angie and Tina, and Leisha and I were sitting next to each other and nosotros were crying then hard. I ran out of Kleenex and had to use her hoodie. Everybody was only a mess because it was so emotional to have Tina back. Information technology was like, OK, we are finally family at present. The family is together at present.

Holloman: I couldn't look over at them because I could see them crying out of the corner of my right eye. I was trying to stay focused on Jordan. I idea I was going to starting time crying, also.

What exercise you hope fans old and new take away from Bette and Tina's reunion?

Beals: I hope that it'southward this delicious reunion, and that they empathise that these two people still love each other very much and there are all kinds of complex things that have happened, but that in that location is a love in that location and at that place is a respect there and that they hold on for the ride.

The ending of the episode is very ambiguous. Will viewers see more of Tina?

Beals: There must be more Tina! Information technology'south too important of a storyline. I, as a producer, will take as much of Laurel's free time every bit I possibly can to exist able to tell that story, because it's crucial.

Holloman: It is. It's an interesting story. I'm a chip of a hopeless romantic, so I hope they discover a mode to exist together. Simply everything has to exist earned. We have to find out a footling flake more nearly who Tina is and what she'south been doing and what's going on.

Would there be a chance for Tina, Bette, Alice and Shane to all reunite in a scene?

Beals: It's catchy to get everybody together, the manner the show is ready correct now, but we do our best to brand those things happen. There are a lot of things happening to make sure that all the storylines are honored — and nosotros don't accept the prepare of The Planet anymore. And, by virtue of it being Los Angeles, where everybody has to drive to get to everybody else'south house, it's a bit more challenging. It'due south not like people pop in on each other in L.A.

Looking dorsum, how do yous feel about Bette and Tina's relationship during the prove's original run?

Holloman: Information technology's tricky because if you lot look at season five, in that location was this growth in Tina where she started to find herself. Ilene and I talked about what a belatedly developer she was. In relationships, everybody is learning lessons all the fourth dimension, and maybe it was a pattern where she got lost again. I also think that when yous take a kid and you are immersed in raising that kid at different times, unlike parents can become burned out. There must have been something there where she felt confident enough that she had put in so much fourth dimension and then it kept coming up for her that in that location was something missing for her. Being divorced for two years is not long. You're still raw; you're notwithstanding a little lost. So I think in lodge to play Tina where she was now, I had to take hold of onto her feeling that she found something that she really needed and it was validating — between the task and the new partner. But it could nonetheless exist part of her trying to discover herself subsequently a divorce.

Beals: From Bette'due south point of view, to accept the divorce and and so have Kitt's expiry follow soon after, it'due south a 1-two dial that she'south actually trying to get through, which makes the co-parenting even more challenging in some ways.

Why do you think it is important to prove a LGBTQ couple going through divorce to audiences?

Holloman: There was a storyline a little fleck earlier that we were really fighting. And Jen and I were similar, "We wouldn't be doing this." It's good to take a reflection that'south positive co-parenting. The most important thing when you are co-parenting is the security and prophylactic of your child.

Beals: What then becomes interesting is that it tin look different from different points of view. So both parents retrieve they are doing that, but invariably in that location will exist a conflict and that conflict is interesting and is important, as a viewer, to exist able to lookout man that conflict and see how it may reflect your ain or how you may decide you want to practice things differently.

Given the industry's button for authenticity when it comes to casting with gay actors playing gay roles, what would the original series accept looked like if information technology were fabricated for the first time today?

Beals: It's tricky in the casting procedure because somebody comes in the room, and unless they are completely out, you tin can't ask them if they're gay. You would take to accept somebody come in and declare who they were, and you don't know where somebody is on their journey.

Holloman: I think it takes away from the procedure of being an player.

Beals: You want people to have representation and you want them to be able to fully tell their own stories. Like Kate, for example. When we were doing the original L Discussion, she wasn't out and it would accept been inappropriate for anyone in the casting room to inquire. Because it'southward not up to them to strength her on her journeying, on their calendar. That's her journey that she needs to take. I hope decades down the line that it won't matter, that everybody tin play everybody. But I practice think that information technology's important to have representation. It'south trying to effigy out how you practice that in the casting room; I am not sure how you do it and it's something we struggled with for sure.

What practice you remember of the current TV mural and the strides that have been made with LGBTQ stories? Which shows practise you call back are doing it right and what hurdles do you retrieve are left?

Holloman: I just finished watching The Matter and the son [Trevor Solloway, played by Jadon Sand] is out and gay and his boyfriend comes to the house and sleeps over. There's just like an openness, and I want to see more than of that. I want children to see that there are so many unlike means that you lot tin can be and be open and be out and it's not a negative storyline, it's a positive storyline. Not the bullying storyline. But moving through your dreams, your desires, your relationships. That was just the first show that came to mind, simply in that location are more than. The thing that I wasn't seeing, and I recall Jennifer would agree, is stories about lesbian women. I didn't experience similar there was another L Word, I didn't see anything like that.

Beals: It'southward of import to take all kinds of representations of what love looks like. It's of import for every generation to know that they tin can express their love in many means and that it's non punitive.

What kind of touch practice you lot hope the revivalwill have on the LGBTQ community and today'due south generation?

Beals: We're in a different time. I want people to be able to see themselves reflected, whether information technology is imperfectly or perfectly; that there is some sort of mirror at that place. My hope is that, if given a second season, nosotros get to get further with those stories.

Holloman: In the episode, I recollect there's a risk to also show characters and how they are parenting with their daughter and their daughter's first love. Going back to what Jennifer said about everybody seeing representation of themselves, from parent to child. This is a part of the story I am very interested in.

The L Word: Generation Q airs Sundays on Showtime at ten p.g. ET/PT.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

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Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/inside-l-words-big-surprise-reunion-1268762/

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