Tag Archives: Sarah Shahi

Sarah Shahi Will Be in New ‘The L Word’ Sequel

Sarah Shahi is set to return for Showtime’s upcoming The L Word sequel series!

Carmen de la Pica Morales for two seasons and was a fan favourite on the series.

“It was discussed [that] my involvement [would be] very heavily [that] I would be in it. I intend to keep it that way, and so does Showtime,”

Shahi played fan-favorite Carmen — a DJ and love interest for Moennig’s Shane — for two seasons.

“[The L Word] was my first big gig. And to be a part of that, I don’t think I ever really knew what I was stepping into until after and I started speaking with women and getting letters. Just the amount of information that was sent my way about how impactful it was, it put me on this thing where it’s like, everything I want to do from now on, I want it to have meaning and I want it to touch people. That was something I tried to do in Reverie and in Person of Interest and it’s something I’m going to do in City on a Hill. To be a part of that sisterhood was so momentous for me. I’m more than honored that I can go back and re-create it.”

Shahi also opened up about what she thinks Carmen is up to now.

“Whatever she’s doing, I feel like she’s definitely still pining away for Shane. For Shane, Carmen would be the one that got away. But I think that was a big game-changer for her. I’m not sure if she’s still DJing or not but definitely something in the music-art world.”

One thing that’s still to be determined is just how big of a role Shahi will have in the eight-episode revival. Showtime declined comment on Shahi’s involvement.

Playwright and screenwriter Marja-Lewis Ryan will serve as showrunner and executive produce alongside original series creator Ilene Chaiken.

Stars Jennifer Beals (Bette), Katherine Moennig (Shane) and Leisha Hailey (Alice) are also on board to exec produce and will reprise their roles from the original series while also introducing a new ensemble of self-possessed LGBTQIA characters experiencing love, heartbreak, sex, setbacks and success on the east side of Los Angeles.

The reboot, first announced in July 2017, arrives nearly 10 years after the original wrapped its six-season run. It is considered a sequel to the original. Lewis-Ryan was selected following an extensive search for a writer with ties to the LGBTQIA community to document how relationships, lives and experiences have evolved — as well as what has and hasn’t changed since the show launched in 2004. Other characters from the original series — which included fan-favorite Erin Daniels (Dana), Laurel Holloman (Tina), Mia Kirshner (Jenny), and Pam Grier (Kit) — may also appear in a potential new version.

Who killed Jenny Schecter? ‘The L Word’ Cast Finally Discusses Her Murder

Let’s face it Jenny Schecter was the woman we all loved to hate. But who killed her?

At first I had a soft spot for Jenny Schecter – young, naive, and confused about her sexuality.

However, in later seasons, she was downright annoying to watch on screen and in the final two seasons; she was a train wreck waiting to happen.

Then in the final season, things took a dark turn when viewers found out that Jenny were seemingly murdered by one of her friends.

When EW reunited The L Word cast this month, they had to talk about that polarising final season and saying goodbye to Jenny.

Here’s what the cast had to say.

Mia Kirshner: I had no idea until the table read. I had such complicated feelings about Jenny. I was really surprised, I just started to cry. I was really, deeply upset, because she had become a part of me, even though she drove me crazy, that character, and she was so wrong most of the time and so rude.

Jennifer Beals: So entertaining, though! I loooove Jenny.

Katherine Moennig: She’s America’s sweetheart! [Everyone laughs.]

Kirshner: But I was very, very upset because I had seven years of that character with these people who had become like my family.

Moennig: I just want to pretend that [season] 6 didn’t happen, and just cap it at five. The show wasn’t about that, so let’s cap that and end it at five, because the show wasn’t about a death. That wasn’t what this whole show was about.

 

Ilene Chaiken: I’m not sure that it was the best choice. I loved the stories we told, but to do a murder mystery maybe was off-topic for us. But it was a metaphor. Jenny brought us into this world. Jenny is going to take us out of this world. It never so much mattered to me, and I realized it matters to the fans. When you tell a story, you owe it to the fans, but to me, it was just a way to talk about this journey that we’ve all been on together and where we are now.

Watch ‘The L Word’ Cast Reunite For EW Cover

Ten years after The L Word hit the small screen, Entertainment Weekly has rounded up the cast for an all-star reunion.

Watch the video below to see Sarah Shahi, Mia Kirshner, Leisha Hailey, Erin Daniels, Daniela Sea, Kate Moennig and Jennifer Beals discuss love, friendship and laughter.

Kate Moennig Addresses Those L Word Reboot Rumours

The groundbreaking show, The L Word – which followed the lives and loves of a group of Los Angeles lesbians – ran for six seasons from 2004 and 2009.

In recent months speculation has be sparked talk of a reboot, with executive producer Ilene Chaiken tweeting, apparently out of the blue: “So excited! Can’t wait…!”

As if that wasn’t enough, Chaiken – who is now an executive producer for hit Fox show Empire – was then joined in her Twitter conversation by some of the cast.

Kate Moennig, who played the inimitable, irreplaceable Shane McCutcheon, replied to the post.

And Sarah Shahi, who played Carmen de la Pica Morales in seasons two and three, added

The prospect of seeing some of the best, most fleshed-out characters – let alone lesbian characters – interact again was almost too much.

 

Now talking to Liz Feldman on This Just Out with Liz Feldman, Moennig has said she would totally be down for an L Word comeback. (Watch below)

Are We Finally Getting ‘The L Word’ Reboot We’ve Longed For?

With one tweet, The L Word creator Ilene Chaiken managed to send queer women everywhere into a twitter frenzy.

Former cast members Kate Moennig, Jennifer Beals and Sarah Shahi were all quick to respond:

So what does this mean? Are we really finally getting The L Word reboot we’ve longed for? Or are they just all meeting up for a casual catch-up?

Fans we’re quick to respond

Signs are looking promising. Over the years many of the cast has said they’d be up for a reunion.

Chaiken told Entertainment Weekly;

I would love to revisit The L Word. We talk about it from time to time. I talk about it with some of my colleagues who were in the cast who would love to reboot it.”

Jennifer Beals has even had a few ideas about how the series might be different now.

So is a reboot on the cards?

Was ‘Person of Interest’ Emotional 100th Episode Just Too Cliché?

WARNING: This piece contains major spoilers from the latest Person of Interest episode.

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The 100th episode of any series is always a big one, and last night’s Person of Interest made sure it ended with what could become a controversial twist: brainy hacker Samantha “Root” Groves (Amy Acker) was killed by a sniper bullet while trying to save Harold Finch (Michael Emerson), the creator of a mass-surveillance computer system dubbed The Machine.

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Root, who was in love with Sameen Shaw (Sarah Shahi), is the latest queer character to wind up dead on a television show – coming on the heels of killings on The Walking Dead and The 100.

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Debate over the storytelling trend, dubbed “Bury Your Gays,” has been making headlines this year, when Lexa from The 100 and Denise fromThe Walking Dead were visited by the Grim Reaper. LGBT fans lashed out at both shows, while GLAAD tweeted the message, “Far too often, LGBT women on scripted TV are killed off in deaths that serve no purpose. Producers must do better.”

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In the case of Root, however, the Person of Interest producers say her death was planned long before “Bury Your Gays” became a trending topic on social media.

In a post-mortem for the episode, creator/executive producer Jonathan Nolan and executive producer Greg Plageman explained the decision to have Root meet her demise and, in a twist fitting for the journey of not only the character but the series, Root’s voice became the voice of the previously mute Machine.

We teased this moment three years ago at Comic-Con. It’s an evolution of Root’s character. Her story has always been about getting closer to The Machine. That’s literally what she trying to do in the first season finale and she finally gets her wish to sort of become The Machine.”

As for the “Bury Your Gays” trope, Nolan says Person of Interest believes they did not fall into that trap.

Something becomes a trope or a cliché when it’s deployed cynically. A publicity stunt, an attempt to goose the ratings. We don’t give a sh– about any of that stuff. This is where our story was going. There’s nothing remotely cynical about anything here. We love this character dearly and this is the f—ing weird thing about writing drama. We kind of call it the red badge of courage onPOI: the number of incredibly gifted actors – I’m thinking of Enrico Colantoni, Leslie Odom Jr., Robert Sean Burke, Camryn Manheim, half the cast of The Wire – we’ve had to call and say, ‘Congratulations on earning the highest possible praise from us, we’ve written you a death scene.’ In that grand tradition, it’s always difficult and you always weigh these things, but the story that you’re telling is one with stakes and change.

When we set out to do this, I’m sure the network would have been thrilled if we’d never changed anything,” he continued. “When you have a hit show and it works, the mandate is keep going. But, luckily, they did let us change things and they allowed us to follow our instincts and our instincts were to drama that changed and had stakes. So, Root’s transcendence is just another example for us of the thing that we always followed, which is this lonely impulse toward telling this story with stakes.”

Acker echoed Nolan’s comments, saying fans should focus more on the love Root had for The Machine rather than a human who happened to be a woman.

Root’s first love was The Machine and brought her into the world of all of these people to begin with. That’s the great thing about Person of Interest. It’s never been about sexuality. It’s always just been about doing what you have to do for the people you love or for the things you love. I think this is another example of Root doing what she had to do to save all these people who she loves in her mind.”

Earlier this month, CBS decided not to order a sixth season of Person of Interest. Launched in 2011, the final episode of the drama that stars Jim Cavaziel will air June 21.

Shaw And Root Get A Steamy Reunion On ‘Person of Interest’ (But There Is A Catch)

WARNING: Full spoilers for the May 16th Person of Interest episode “6,741.”

Person of Interest brought back Sarah Shahi’s Shaw on Monday night, for a heart-pounding roller coaster ride, taking us through the highest highs and the lowest lows.

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Absolutely do not keep reading if you haven’t watched “6,741” yet.

In the new episode, we finally got to see Shaw’s big reunion with Root. Their first real moments together after Shaw sacrificed herself back in If-Then-Else. And it’s a reunion we’ve been craving!

The withheld love and lust finally got released with a lot of kissing, tumbling, and some sex.

The moment was perfect between the two women – with the show going full tilt with their years-in-the-making sex scene.

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Talking to AfterEllen, Shahi explained

The fans, I think they deserved to see some of that chemistry, and they deserve to see the kiss, and they’ve been along for the ride for a while, and they’ve been very patient. I’m all about tapping into my home girls and I’m glad they stuck around, and I hope it was well worth the wait!”

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Sadly, none of the episode was, in fact, real, but instead a cruel, torturous simulation created by Samaritan to try and brainwash Shaw into leading its team to the Machine, and murder her former friends and partners in the process.

And sadly, Shahi also doesn’t think love will blossom any further

I think for Shaw, her feelings for Root really crept up on her. I don’t think it was anything she was intentionally setting out to create or to get. We see this through the simulation so it would never happen in real life. I don’t think Shaw would ever go there for Root in real life. I think things are just too complicated in her head, and I think Shaw would have to go through a pretty big transformation in order to let herself go there with Root.

Personal Interest Drops Extended New Trailer (And We’re Rather Excited About It)

There’s plenty to be excited about in this two-minute preview, but it’s especially exciting to see just how much Sarah Shahi is in it.

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If you look at Person Of Interest‘s description – a show about a tech whiz, a former soldier and their pals as they try to protect people from the world’s dangers as well as the government’s snooping – it sounds like an unlikely candidate for fantastic queer representation, but you’d be surprised.

The show’s two supporting women, Shahi’s Sameen Shaw and Samantha “Root” Groves (played by Amy Acker) are part of the core group of ‘good guys’ who aim to protect the world and though the two characters are incredibly sarcastic and spend most of their time shooting bad guys’ kneecaps, they still find plenty of time to flirt.

In Person of Interest‘s fourth season, their flirting finally came to a head when Shaw kissed Root, right before she risks her life to save Root and co. and gets shot in the process.

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Although Root spends the remainder of the season pining over Shaw/trying to find Shaw/talking about how much she misses Shaw, Shaw’s not dead and the two will be reunited in season five of the show.

And as Shahi promised at Person of Interest’s New York Comic Con panel, “Shaw comes back in a very dynamic way.”

Person of Interest: Season 5 premieres Tuesday, May 3 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Catch Sarah Shahi In New Lesbian-Themed Film ‘Guns for Hire’

Sarah Shahi is in a new lesbian-themed film called Guns for Hire, and it looks pretty freaking good.

Writer/director Donna Robinson is behind the film that stars Michele Hicks as a hitwoman named Beatle Boyin, who is a part time tow truck driver and part time assassin.

Athena Klendon (Ever Carradine), is a mysterious, beautiful young woman, with a secret, and they quickly strike a deadly bargain; in exchange for her own execution. Athena will change her life insurance policy to reflect Beatle as the beneficiary.

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However (plot-twist), as she begins to fall for the beautiful Athena, Beatle seeks the approval of her psychiatrist (Orlando Jones) to make the hit.

Sarah plays Carla, a stripper that hooks up with Beatle, and ends up getting more involved than she hoped to be.

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Watch the trailer below:

 

Katherine Moennig Joins New Indie Film ‘Lane 1974’

The L Word actress Katherine Moennig is set to star in Lane 1974.

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Lane 1974 will be directed by S.J. Chiro, and is based on Clane Hayward’s memoir, The Hypocrisy of Disco.

It follows a 13-year-old played by newcomer Sophia Mitri Schloss who attempts to live within the confines of her mother’s (Moennig) bizarrely rigid counter culture philosophies in a commune in Northern California.

Chiro, who grew up on two communes in the ‘70s, is making her directorial debut with the project.

Talking on casting Moennig, Chiro said

Katherine Moennig was the actress I immediately thought of to play Hallelujah. Working with her has been one of the great joys of my career. Kate is a sharp, incisive, and straightforward person, much like the woman she plays. She is able to bring incredible depth and humanity to a complicated role. I can’t wait for the world to see a very different side of Kate Moennig.”

As we all know Moennig is known for playing Shane McCutcheon in the The L Word, but she is currently starring on Showtime series Ray Donovan as Lena.

And this week she is set to share the screen again in the she with Sarah Shahi. Go ‪#‎sharmen‬

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Her other feature film credits include The Lincoln Lawyer opposite Matthew McConaughey, and Art School Confidential for Terry Zwigoff.

Stop Everything – Is This The L Word Reunion We’ve Been Waiting For?

No quiet, but close enough.

Former The L Word co-stars and on-screen lovers – Sarah Shahi (who played Carmen) and Kate Moennig (Shane) – were reunited on the set of Ray Donovan in today’s Post of the Day.

Sarah is guest starring Ray Donovan. She’ll be playing Hasmig, an Armenian pop star. Much to any fan of The L Word’s delight, she will play opposite of Kate—who plays Lena, Donovan’s assistant.

The third season of Ray Donovan premieres on July 12. We can’t wait to see Kate and Sarah back on the small screen together again.