The rom-com drama series is a follow-up of the movie Love, Simon (dir. Greg Berlanti, 2018) which was based on the famous 2015 book Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. Based in the same universe, the show follows Victor, played by Michael Cimino (Annabelle, Training Day), a 16-year-old teen who has just moved to Atlanta with his family.
This coming-of-age story features familiar tropes of identity, friendship, familial tensions. Victor's central motive is to start over and find himself, or in his own words "at least figure out who that even is." Victor writes emails to Simon asking for help, who has been through and out of a similar situation before him.
new coming-of-age narratives attempt to realistically represent the struggles and complications of being a teenager
The best part of the show is that it is your usual coming-of-age series featuring high schools and teens on an identity quest except, it is more complicated than that. The new coming-of-age narratives have been delving farther than the established cliche tropes and attempt to realistically represent the struggles and complications of being a teenager. Likewise, through Victor, the show depicts the confusing journey of finding one's sure footing in the world, be it sexual identity or otherwise.
After moving to Creekwood High School and being put in a completely new environment, Victor has to face more than he expected to. For him, the self-discovery is harder because of a lack of supportive friends and family which makes him realize that he is not ready to come out yet. Moreover, the show shines a light upon how different coming out is in non-white cultures around the world because the traditional ideology often restricts the ability of the family to understand homosexuality.
Created by Isaac Aptaker, Elizabeth Berger, the other exciting news about the show is that it features the writers of Love, Simon as its executive producers. Gauging by the hype, the trailer has set high expectations amidst the audiences and is bound to offer a similar glimpse of magic as the original film.
The 10-episode rom-com drama series will be released on June 19.