‘For The Boys’ Is The Black Queer Web Series We’ve Been Waiting For
“This story is a love letter to boys like us. Period.”
Ever so often, a piece of art is created that causes a cultural shift—an unexpected, yet welcomed reflection of the lived experiences of a segment of society that is often overlooked, if not outright dismissed by media gatekeepers. “For The Boys,” the hit SLAY TV web series now streaming on YouTube from co-creators Mekhai Lee and Ellis Dawson, is filling the void of Black queer representation on a scale that has surpassed similar projects online, and is inching closer to achieving the kind of cultural impact on a new generation of Black queer audiences not seen since the early 2000s.
“For The Boys” follows three Black queer best friends as they navigate the intoxicating and exhausting minefield of love and friendship in New York City. Set in Brooklyn, the series follows the lives of Anthony (Chandler Bryant), Jamal (Andrew Coleman), and Syed (Lamont Walker II), each on their own roads to personal self-discovery and fulfilling relationships.
In 2019, Dawson was in the early stages of writing the script for a show centering on Black queer friends. He tells The Reckoning that a Facebook status and an extra ticket to Shakespeare in the Park led to meeting Lee, who was also working on a similar script.
“We swapped scripts, and we were like, oh wow... there are a lot of similarities there. And it was really beautiful. It felt preordained, actually,” Dawson says.
“Over a span of a few months, we just kind of put those two ideas together,” Lee says. “We both had three characters, a group of friends, mine was [in their] early twenties, his were on the later side of their twenties. And “For The Boys” was born.”
Both professional actors in their own right, Dawson and Lee had never written a script before tackling the pilot and the subsequent ten-episode story arc for the first season of “For The Boys.” But they weren’t going to let their inexperience stop them from telling a story that needed to be told.
“We both went to college for theater, so we took script analysis,” Dawson says. "We understand how to break down a script and how characters work. And, I just say more than anything, we're storytellers, and in any medium, we can tell a story we will, to the best of our ability.”
“Ellis and I were looking around and not seeing a representation of Black men that we felt was whole and complete. We never get to see Black men be vulnerable. ”
“Ellis and I were looking around and not seeing a representation of Black men that we felt was whole and complete,” Lee says, in an early promo video for the series. “We never get to see Black men be vulnerable. We never get to see them be soft—to love on each other platonically and without shame. And we wanted to create a series where Black men were given the room to do that.”
Following the overwhelming praise for the premiere of the pilot episode, it was clear that Dawson and Lee were on their way towards creating an authentic scripted portrayal of Black queer life filled with nuance, great writing, cinematography, and the essential but often missing ingredient from other web series—incredible acting.
Enter Andrew Coleman, Lamont Walker II, and Chandler Bryant, who, if spotted on the street today, would most likely hear their characters' names called before their own—Anthony, Syed, and Jamal—each with their own unique story about how they became the face of the runaway hit series as openly queer and nonbinary actors who are now the vessel for Black queer representation that they also needed.
Anthony, Syed And Jamal
“I have to be part of this. I will hold the broom. I will get you guys coffee. I don't care. I just need to be a part of this,” recalls Andrew Coleman, 27, a D.C. native who plays the awkward and budding photographer Jamal, in a jokingly reply to Dawson after reading the script for the pilot episode.
Coleman tells The Reckoning that he believes the co-creators initially had someone else in mind for his role, and after a scheduled call back by Dawson was canceled, for a split-second, Coleman believed the probability of him landing the role was slim until he received an early morning phone call.
“He [Dawson] was like, yeah, that call back actually got canceled because you got the part!”
Coleman’s co-star, Lamont Walker II, 28, a Virginia Beach native and childhood friend and roommate to Dawson, plays Syed, the promiscuous, life-of-the-party, who appears to be the perfect catch but is wrestling inner demons. With the part written specifically for him, Walker says he played a major role in naming his character and influencing Syed’s pro-Black sensibilities.
“I wanted it [his character’s name] to be something that was super Black. That part about Syed is intrinsically a part of me—going up for our people, wanting to speak out, speak for, being a voice for us as Black people. That is me,” he says.
While Walker may have much in common with the character he portrays—he says Syed’s cravings for multiple sexual partners isn’t one of them. However, his co-star, Jacksonville, FL native Chandler Bryant, 21, a non-binary fourth-year drama student at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, embodies the gender non-conforming character Anthony on screen and off. It was total kismet that after an exhaustive search for the right actor to play Anthony, Lee stumbled upon an Instagram Live that would end his search.
“He saw me in this pink beret. It was mainly stuff from my mom's closet that I was wearing just to look cute,” Bryant says.
“They had this black turtleneck on and a pink raspberry beret, like the Prince song,” Lee says, in a nod to his favorite musician. “And they’re wearing glitter and eye makeup. I literally sent the [Instagram] Live to Ellis. I'm like, Anthony? And he was like, ‘let's see.’ Then two weeks later, we got a tape from Chandler. And it was honestly love at first sight.”
“To know that Anthony is inspiring that queer person that was inside of me at 16, 17, who wasn’t comfortable going out and being their true self—it’s just a beautiful thing.”
As Anthony, Bryant defies rigid gender expectations with an infectious confidence that undoubtedly wins over potential critics of the historically one-dimensional portrayal of effeminate Black queer men on-screen, while simultaneously inspiring real-life Anthony’s to live unabashedly.
“After an episode dropped, a drag queen/nonbinary person DMS me, and they told me that I made them feel more comfortable going out into public wearing more fem clothes and being more femme presenting. And that really made me cry,” Bryant says. “To know that Anthony is inspiring that queer person that was inside of me at 16, 17, who wasn't comfortable going out and being their true self—it’s just a beautiful thing.”
It’s also beautiful to see a fem presenting Black queer man being loved openly as we see with Anthony and his on-screen love interest Raymond (Ashton Harris).
“It’s so important to show people like Anthony being loved out loud and loved without conditions. He's being loved unconditionally by this masculine-presenting bisexual man. I think that’s really special,” Bryant says.
“Representation matters. And while fem Black queer men are seeing themselves in Bryant’s portrayal of Anthony, Black queer men with thick body types are seeing themselves reflected in Coleman’s portrayal of Jamal.”
Representation matters. And while fem Black queer men are seeing themselves in Bryant’s portrayal of Anthony, Black queer men with thick body types are seeing themselves reflected in Coleman’s portrayal of Jamal. Coleman tells The Reckoning that he was the heaviest he’d ever been during the filming of the first four episodes, and a request from Dawson for him to go shirtless in episode five brought all of his insecurities to the forefront.
“I sat with myself and I said, you know, this insecurity is momentary. What this scene will do for all the boys who look like me… all the boys who are bigger than me, all the boys who just struggle with not having that chiseled physique, what that will do is far more important than this 10 minutes of, oh, I don't want to do it,” Coleman says.
“My greatest wish was that people would see themselves,” Walker says, as he draws a connection to his show’s predecessor, the groundbreaking early 2000s Black queer series “Noah’s Arc.”
“I was sneaking around watching Noah's Arc. I was sneaking around seeing Black men…seeing an experience of a Black queer person before I even truly, with my mouth, spoke it out loud—but wanting to see it and wanting to feel connected to it in an essential way,” he says. “I don't think that it's quite hit me that maybe people hold “For The Boys” to that [same] regard. It's humbling to know that people are seeing themselves in Syed and in Jamal and Anthony.”
'Frankly, It Deserves The Issa Rae Treatment'
Coleman tells The Reckoning that he knew the show “was going to be special, but I didn’t know it was going to give this,” after spotting fellow Black queer artist Tituss Burgess at the season one wrap party and receiving social media shout-outs from “Noah’s Arc” alum Darryl Stephens and singer Durand Bernarr. It’s all welcomed praise for a show that crowdsourced and surpassed its goal to finish shooting the first season and filmed a number of scenes in Walker and Dawson’s shared New York City apartment.
“When we started, we didn't have a following. We didn't have any sort of donations or money. It was all kind of off of our backs,” Walker says. “A lot of what you see, it's filmed in my apartment. My bedroom is Syed’s bedroom because we didn't have the budget to rent out any sort of space. That's my living room. Syed and Jamal’s apartment is my and Ellis’s actual New York City apartment in Brooklyn.”
“To see authentic Black people on film is radical. And then you add queer on top of that—it can change the world. Just seeing it. Knowing that it exists. That’s why the story resonates the way it does because it is authentic.”
It’s the authenticity of the production, which features Black queer people in front of and behind the camera (except for cinematographer Pierre Marais) that has won over fans and prompted intense conversations about the character’s journey’s. But “what no one argues about is how real the show is,” Coleman says.
"To see authentic Black people on film is radical. And then you add queer on top of that—it can change the world,” Walker says. “Just seeing it. Knowing that it exists. That's why the story resonates the way it does because it is authentic.”
So where does “For The Boys” go from here? Frankly, it deserves the Issa Rae treatment.
“I see “For The Boys” taking over the fucking world,” Bryant says. “I see us on HBO. I see us on any major streaming service or network. I see us having a run similar to “Insecure” or “Girlfriends,” or anything that lasts long and snags all the awards. I feel like it's time for us to have our seat at the table. And I think “For The Boys” deserves it.”
It remains to be seen if the Black community at large will rally behind a show featuring an all-Black queer cast. Bryant believes they absolutely should.
“Regardless of the fact that it's queer or not, this is Black work,” he says.
“I have hope that it will be positively received. And if it's not, so be it. It’s not for people who don't understand and aren’t open. Somebody said this, “I may be queer, but I'm also Black. And if you can't see that, if my queerness blinds the fact that I'm your family in the sense that I am a Black person, then I don't think that we're really family.”
“We're in this really interesting space where anything can happen,” Dawson says.
And with no definitive premiere date for season two, Dawson leaves eager fans a crumb to collectively chew on in anticipation of more: “It is not the last you've seen of “For The Boys.”
