Non-binary actor Theo Germaine has opened up about their experience shooting popular new Netflix series The Politician, describing the role and audition process as "super refreshing".
The Ryan Murphy series, which stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Lange, Ben Platt and Bette Midler, tells the story of Payton Hobart (Platt), a wealthy teen who is unusually determined to become student body president of his upper-class high school - with the goal of eventually being president of the United States.
Germaine plays the role of James, one half of Payton’s two-person campaign management team.
According to , while the show's producers were looking for a trans masculine actor to play the role, the character's gender identity was never a point of focus - a nice change, the actor says.
“I was like, This is cool,” Germaine told the website.
“Maybe it’s going to come up [in the script]?”
Germaine, who prefers playing male characters, was excited by the prospect of taking on the role of James.
“Like, I don’t have to talk about how I hate my body or anything?” they recall thinking to NewNowNext.
“So many auditions that have trans content have been [that way] since I started acting and auditioning professionally," they explained. "This was super refreshing.”
Speaking about the production, Germaine revealed that they think Hollywood has “a long way to go” in developing nuanced and representative trans stories, but the role felt like a step in the right direction.
“I would love more television to just be like that [James in the Politician] - where [gender or sexual orientation] isn’t a big deal - but I also know it’s very important to specifically have queer content where issues with gender and sexuality are spoken about,” they said.
“I don’t want it to be erased; I just want it to become one part of the thing that queer actors and trans actors get to do.”
The third episode of the series was directed by trans writer/director/producer Janet Mock, an experience Germaine cherished.
“There is a level of understanding there, and it’s really exciting,” they recalled.
You can watch a trailer for The Politician below:
