Daytime dramas have been forthright in bringing LGBTQ storylines front and center, with recent romances including the connection between The Young and the Restless' Tessa (Cait Fairbanks) and Mariah (Camryn Grimes), and Days of our Lives' Will (Chandler Massey) and Sonny (Freddie Smith). But the network shows aren't the only place where soap opera fans can look for soapy LGBTQ romances. After Forever, a digital drama co-created by DAYS writer Michael Slade and actor Kevin Spirtas (ex-Dr. Craig Wesley), has also thrown its hat in the ring, and the Emmy-winning series just returned with a second season.
Now available for streaming on Amazon Prime, season two of After Forever picks up six months after season one ended. Spirtas' Brian is dating David (Mike McGowan), with whom he was set up at the end of season one by his late husband's parents, Frannie and Carl (Anita Gillette and Lenny Wolpe). Brian, with the help of family and friends, is determined to move forward. However, moving on from the loss and memory of his husband, Jason (Mitchell Anderson) is extremely complicated.
The first season of After Forever was a major hit at the Daytime Emmy Awards, winning five awards in the digital category, including Outstanding Digital Drama Series, Outstanding Writing for a Digital Drama Series, Outstanding Directing of a Digital Drama Series, Outstanding Actor in a Digital Drama Series, and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Digital Drama Series. Those five awards made After Forever the most Emmy-awarded LGBT-themed drama series on any platform.
Season one of After Forever also gathered rave reviews for telling the rarely seen story of vibrant, active, diverse, "grown-up" gay men -- a group who, like women, tend to disappear from television and film once they are no longer 20- or 30-something, not returning until they are elderly and non-sexual.
In a 2018 interview with Soap Central, Spirtas revealed, "One of the things that we're very excited about with this particular show is that we are taking snapshots of an entire community of not just gay men, but middle-aged people. They're often brushed aside and swept under the carpet. From my point of view, and my co-creator Michael Slade's point of view, we both felt there was an important need to make sure that this community, this whole world of people, [is portrayed]. We're not just the young, hunky cadets of tomorrow, and we're not the 80-year-old people down the hall. There's a whole vibrant and virile life that goes on for middle-aged people."
Season two of After Forever sees the return of most of the series' original cast, including Spirtas, Anderson, David Dean Bottrell, Erin Cherry, Finn Douglas, Anita Gillette, Cady Huffman, Peter Kim, Robert Emmet Lunney, Mike McGowan, Jim Newman, Erin Leigh Peck, Jonathan Rayson, Jamison Stern, and Lenny Wolpe.
The returning cast is joined this season by Mary Beth Peil, Bill Brochtrup, Wyatt Fenner, Christopher J. Hanke, Michael McElroy, and Scott Redmond.
For additional information on After Forever, visit www.AfterForevertheSeries.com.
What do you think about the premise of season two of After Forever? What were your thoughts on season one of the LGBTQ series? We want to hear from you -- so drop your comments in the Comments section below, tweet about it on Twitter, share it on Facebook, or chat about it on our Message Boards.
