"Pose" Is Back, So Here Are 20 Facts You Need To Know About The Show

Just when you thought it was impossible to love this show even more...

1. The show creators and writers decided to set season 2 in 1990 to give the characters fresh storylines...

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As co-creator Steven Canals told EW: "I just think we were thinking, 'I don’t know how interesting it’s going to be for us to do a direct continuation of everything that just happened to these characters from the first season, as opposed to jumping ahead and just giving them brand-new narrative.'"

2. ...And because that year witnessed many historic sociopolitical and pop culture events in the LGBTQ community, like national protests demanding more inclusive access to HIV medical care and the debut of Madonna's Vogue.

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3. Tony winner Billy Porter, Pose's Pray Tell, will be joined this season by fellow Tony winner Patti LuPone, who reportedly plays a real estate mogul and frenemy of Blanca Evangelista.

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4. Indya Moore, who plays Angel Evangelista, also auditioned for the role of Blanca and said they related more to her than to Angel.

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"At the time, I felt that there were family dynamics in [my family house] House of Xtravaganza that could have been better," they told GQ in 2018. "And because of that I really related to Blanca's sentiments and how she felt about her house family and how she wanted to set an example of a loving family without competition. I just felt that Angel's character…I didn't want to be that girl that was seen as beautiful or pretty."

5. But the show creators decided they were meant to be Angel after the actor performed that iconic diner scene between Angel and Stan at their audition.

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6. Ryan Murphy knew they'd found their Blanca after MJ Rodriguez auditioned with that powerful monologue about Damon getting into the New School's dance program.

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7. Angelica Ross thought she'd blown her audition, but it turned out that Ryan Murphy had liked her performance so much that he created a new character, Candy Ferocity, specially for her.

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8. MJ and Indya both starred in the ballroom-themed film Sunday Church before becoming lead co-stars on Pose.

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9. And MJ had also worked with Billy in the 2011 off-Broadway revival of RENT.

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MJ famously played the role of Angel, making the character trans instead of a drag queen, while Billy served as associate director. Billy and the show's director, Michael Greif, “were really the only ones vocal about uplifting me," MJ told Esquire. "I went into rehearsal mode and Billy was just like, 'Yas! Yas! Yas!'"

10. Dominique Jackson, who plays Elektra Evangelista, is from Tobago and wrote the 2014 autobiography The Transsexual from Tobago detailing her experiences as a trans model from the small Caribbean island.

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11. Both Indya and Dominique worked as models before joining Pose.

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12. Indya is a member of House of Xtravganza, a New York City-based house that was founded in 1982 and continues to be one of the most recognized houses worldwide.

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13. The character Damon's storyline parallels with Billy's real life story line: They were both 17 in 1987, raised in Pennsylvania, and aspiring dancers. They also left home, although Damon was kicked out, while Porter made the decision to leave.

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14. Pose is the first scripted series to center trans and queer black and Latino people and their experiences in the storyline, and place them in the writer's room and the director's chair.

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"There are 140 trans actors and crew members on this show, and 35 L.G.B.T.Q. characters who aren’t trans [representing more than half of the total cast and crew]," Murphy told The New York Times.

15. A majority of the cast came to Pose with very little to no on-camera experience, having never worked on a sound stage or been directed.

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"So, my job, when I was directing the pilot, was to explain: "O.K., this is what happens. You stand on this mark; this is where the camera is; don't look in the lens," Murphy explained to The New York Times. "It was very moving. But I adore these actors; they're so talented. And all they needed was someone to say: 'You’ve got something. You're a star.'"

16. All of the actors and writers have opened up about experiencing homelessness, harassment, and abandonment, as well as supporting themselves with sex work, often in hostile environments.

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"Going into Central Park, where I had actually slept when I was homeless, was kind of…. I had many mixed feelings and was fearful to play that part," Dominique told Metro Weekly. "I wanted my character to just continue to be fantastic and fabulous. But we had to tell the story and bring the reality of it. We had to face the facts of trans homelessness that is occurring this very day, constantly."

17. The series has also had a major impact behind-the-camera too, with Janet Mock becoming the first trans woman of color to be hired as a writer, producer, and director on a television series.

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18. Co-creator Steven Canals penned the first draft of the Pose pilot in 2014 while attending UCLA's grad film school.

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19. Jennie Livingston’s classic ballroom documentary Paris is Burning inspired the show's concept.

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20. And finally, Steven said he pitched the show 150 times before he finally got a yes, which came from Hollywood mogul Ryan Murphy.

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"Ryan, a gay, cis, white man who is very powerful with a lot of privilege, came in and said, "That’s a story I want to tell,'" Steven told TheWrap. "And as opposed to bringing in people to sit at a table that’s already existed for decades, [he said], 'I'm just gonna create a whole brand new table, and pull up a couple of seats, and have all of you there with me."

Catch the latest season of Pose every Tuesday at 10PM EST on FX.

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UPDATE

Jun. 13, 2019, at 20:35 PM

This post has been updated to reflect Indya Moore's preferred gender pronouns, they/their.