Photo Credit: ArabQ (The Wedding)

Every week, the GLAAD Wrap brings you LGBTQ-related entertainment news highlights, fresh stuff to watch out for, and fun diversions to help you kick off the weekend!

1) Once Upon a Deadpool was released in theaters on Wednesday; the PG-13 version of summer’s Deadpool 2. Thankfully, the new version still includes the relationship between Negasonic Teenage Warhead (out actress Brianna Hildebrand) and her girlfriend Yukio, a groundbreaking inclusion for blockbuster superhero movies. Once Upon a Deadpool is now playing in theaters nationwide and tickets are available here. One dollar from every ticket purchase goes toward the charity F**k Cancer.

2) Sam Abbas’ debut feature film The Wedding, will be released in New York this weekend. The film follows Rami, (Abbas) a young Muslim-American man who is set to be married to an American woman, Sara (The Bold Type’s Nikohl Boosheri), while living a hidden life as a gay man. The film has had secret screenings across the Middle East, where distribution was hard to come by. It will play for the next week at New York’s Cinema Village, and tickets are available here.

3) A trailer has been released for the upcoming biopic Mapplethorpe starring Matt Smith as the iconic queer artist and photographer, known for his infamous portrayal of the male form. The film will be released in theaters on March 1, 2019. In other films news, out singer and actress Janelle Monáe has been cast in The Glorias: A Life on the Road, a biopic of famed feminist Gloria Steinem. Monáe was the recipient of several Grammy nominations last week, and will be starring in the film Welcome to Marwen later this month.

4) The first trailer has been released for the sixth season of GLAAD Media Award recipient, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which will be airing on NBC after the network scooped up the show following FOX’s cancellation. The comedy has been hailed for its matter-of-fact inclusion of gay character Captain Ray Holt, as well as bisexual detective Rosa Diaz, played by out bi actress Stephanie Beatriz. Season six of Brooklyn Nine-Nine premieres January 10 on NBC. One Day at a Time, the reboot of the ’70s sitcom centered on a Latinx family with a lesbian daughter, has announced that it will be returning to Netflix on February 8 for its third season. 

5) Season two of CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery released a full length trailer for the their upcoming second season. The show was notable for including the first gay couple in a Star Trek television show, with Lt. Paul Staments (Anthony Rapp) and Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz). Star Trek: Discovery season two will premeire January 17. In other TV News, IMDb has announced that it will be producing short form series for their website. One of these new shows is UnMade, which features several comedians, including out lesbian Tig Notaro, talking about the story and inspiration behind their material. 

6) A new trailer has been released for RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 4, which premieres this Friday night. The newest season of All Stars brings back ten of the show’s most memorable contestants, including transgender queen Gia Gunn. The trailer suggests that the newest season will come with a new set of rules as well. In other drag news, a trailer has been released for Snapchat’s upcoming Growing Up is a Drag, a docuseries that follows teenage drag queens. Drag Race All Stars 4 premieres December 14 on VH1, and Growing Up is a Drag debuts on December 17 on Snapchat.

7) Freeform has ordered a new series from out comedian Josh Thomas, the creator and star of the GLAAD Media Award-nominated series Please Like Me. The new series, Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, stars Thomas as a neurotic 25-year old living with his dad and two teenage sisters, when their father becomes terminally ill. In further TV news, a premiere date has been sent for Now Apocalypse, the upcoming Starz comedy from out creator Gregg Araki. The show stars Avan Jogia as a queer millennial navigating sex and dating in Los Angeles, while also having increasingly foreboding dreams of the future. Now Apocalypse will premiere March 10 on Starz.

8) Lesbian singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile released a video for her song “Party of One,” an emotional ballad off of Carlile’s heavily Grammy-nominated album By the Way I Forgive You. The video feature’s The Handmaid’s Tale’s Elisabeth Moss playing a character who is heartbroken over a fight with her girlfriend. Watch the video below.

9) Boom! Studios announced this week that a new line of adult graphic novels will be launched next year with the release of Bury the Lede. Written by out bi creator Gaby Dunn, the books will follow an inexperienced journalist who falls into the life of a socialite and murder suspect, and has the opportunity for the scoop of a lifetime. Dunn has said that the majority of the characters in the series will be queer women.

10) The Critics’ Choice Award nominations were announced this week, with several prominent LGBTQ and inclusive nominees. Some highlights include nominations for queer talent in film and television including Lady Gaga, Amandla Stenberg, Billy Porter, Asia Kate Dillon, Nico Santos, Ben Whishaw, Jim Parsons, and Sean Hayes. LGBTQ-inclusive projects include The Favourite, Crazy Rich Asians, Deadpool 2, Pose, The Good Fight, Schitt’s Creek, One Day at a Time, A Very English Scandal, and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. For a complete list of nominees, click here. The Critics’ Choice Awards will be broadcast on The CW on January 13. 

11) The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award nominees were announced on Wednesday by Awkwafina and trans actress and advocate Laverne Cox. The nominees include the ensembles of LGBTQ-inclusive films Crazy Rich Asians, Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born. Bisexual singer and actress Lady Gaga also received a nomination, as did several other actors for playing LGBTQ roles in The Favourite, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Green Book. On the television side, the ensembles of GLOW, The Handmaid’s Tale, and This Is Us received nominations, as well Darren Criss and Hugh Grant for their leading roles in The Assassination of Gianni Versace and A Very English Scandal. The 25th Annual SAG Awards will air and hand out their statues on January 27.

12) When Angels visit Armadillo is a narrative podcast that’s currently searching for funding. Told through interviews and phone calls, the podcast tells the story of Magnolia “Maggie” Waters — an unapologetic southern lesbian woman who witnesses a string of strange disappearances in 1988 and decides to investigate them with her best friend, Celia Young. Created by out lesbian Christin Campbell, the show is produced and acted primarily by women. To find out how to help, click here.