Netflix’s new series AJ and the Queen is part Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, part Touched by an Angel. Oh, and RuPaul performs a killer musical number in every drag club.
Created by Charles and Michael Patrick King (Sex and the City), RuPaul stars as Ruby Red, a bigger than life but down on her luck drag queen who travels across America from club to club in a rundown 1990’s van, in order to recoup the savings recently stolen from her. She’s paired up with AJ, a recently orphaned, tough-talking, scrappy 11-year-old white girl stowaway. As these two misfits, one tall – one small, travel from city to city, Ruby’s message of love and acceptance winds up touching people and changes their lives a little for the better.
This fun, outrageous series explores ideas of family, friendship, love, and loss. Together they help each other navigate the heartbreaking past, the challenging present and a hopeful future as Ruby and AJ travel the USA searching for a little happiness and the very best breakfast waffle.
RuPaul spoke about the upcoming series with Interview Magazine in August. “My character parents an 11-year-old child, so I was able to really emotionally revisit myself as a kid. It was a trip. I’ve never done anything like that before. It was the most challenging thing for me as an actor and as a human.”
“The big thing for me is that I wish I’d learned how to process feelings earlier. The human body is kind of like a computer program, and a lot of the feelings that I felt were based on the experiences I’d had. Knowing that feelings are not facts was a message I wish that 11-year-old Ru had heard.”
The series stars RuPaul Charles, Izzy Gaspersz, Michael-Leon Wooley (Grace & Frankie), Tia Carrere (Wayne’s World), Josh Segarra (Arrow), and Katerina Tannenbaum (Sweetbitter).
AJ and the Queen premieres January 10th on Netflix with 10 episodes.
