Disney’s FX to end ‘Pose’ after upcoming third season

Pose

Disney’s US cablenet FX is bringing down the curtain on award-winning drama Pose, with its previously announced third season now set to be its last.

The show, which was co-created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals, has previously sold to broadcasters including the BBC and will start its final seven-episode third run on 2 May in the US.

It is produced by 20th Television and FX Productions, and revolves around the house mothers of New York’s underground ball culture, which first gained notice in the late 1980s.

History-maker

The show’s first season made history by featuring the largest-ever cast of transgender actors in series regular roles, including Michaela Jaé, Dominique Jackson, Indya Moore and Hailie Sahar. It also featured the largest recurring cast of LGBTQ actors for a scripted series and was praised for its diversity behind the camera.

Pose’s Billy Porter became the first openly gay man to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, while Janet Mock became the first trans woman of colour hired as a writer on a TV series, as well as the first transgender woman of colour to write and direct a TV episode.

“Words cannot truly express my gratitude and appreciation for those who have given FX and the world the gift that is Pose,” said John Landgraf, chairman at FX. “Ryan Murphy, Steven Canals, our incomparable cast and their collaborators created a masterpiece and, in doing so, have left an indelible legacy that will open doors, new doors, for the trans community.”

Dana Walden, chairman of entertainment at Walt Disney Television, added: “Pose represents a great source of pride for all of us inside Disney Television Studios. This show demonstrates the power of our industry to shine a light on the underrepresented and point to our common humanity – and to do it with glitter, gusto and sheer fabulousness!”

Canals added: “‘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.”

Murphy, who is now under an overall deal at Netflix, said: “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.”