Streaming Queer: July 2024

"Big Brother" Season 26

The team behind "Big Brother" Season 26 is keeping details close to their chest. They've announced that Julie Chen Moonves returns to host the show, and shared absolutely no news about whether we can expect to see any other familiar faces. But if you've tuned into the reality show before, you already know to expect the unexpected.

"BB26" is back with its 94 HD cameras and more than 113 microphones, and, most importantly, its contestants signing up to be recorded 24 hours a day in the hopes of winning $750,000. This season of "Big Brother" opens with a one-hour premiere for two nights, so plan your viewing parties accordingly.

"Big Brother" Season 26 premieres July 17 on Paramount+.

"Snowpiercer" Season 4

The fourth season of this post-apocalyptic drama will be its final revolution. The trailer promises a "closing act" to the desperate, ambitious plan that was boarding Snowpiercer, a train specifically designed to circle the globe until a frozen planet Earth was safe to inhabit again. It also promises an inevitable dark turn in the new beginning that passengers have been hoping, praying, fighting, and dying for.

Queer actor Rowan Blanchard plays Alexandra, the daughter of Snowpiercer's head engineer, Melanie Cavill (Jennifer Connelly), and an engineer herself. Security guard and former detective Bess Till (played by Mickey Sumner) is an openly sapphic character who plays an integral role in the train's most dramatic storylines. Alexandra and Bess are headstrong women, emotionally tied to the most determined people at the core of this terrifying, tense saga; We hope they make it out to enjoy the new life they all deserve.

"Snowpiercer" Season 4 premieres July 21 on AMC+.

"Femme"

This intense, enthralling film follows drag performer Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, "Culprits") who encounters the homophobic man (George MacKay) who violently attacked him one night; the two cross paths at a gay sauna, where the onetime attacker, not recognizing Jules, checks him out. Realizing his attacker is closeted, and forever changed by the traumatic experience of being assaulted while in drag, Jules embarks on a revenge plot. The film is tense, electric, and charged with the heat of queer attraction, performative behaviors, trauma responses, and righteous anger.

Our EDGE review of the film describes "Femme" as "a revenge drama that starts with a gay bashing but then heads into emotionally tumultuous terrain where love, rage, hate, and fear collide."

"Femme" premieres July 23 on Hulu.

"Élite" Season 8

This is the final season of Netflix's super-horny high school murder mystery, "Élite."

Season 8 will continue its familiar beats of gay sex, high-stakes secrets, teenage acts of revenge, and unflinching commentary on the social hierarchy and wealth disparity in Spain. The sensational show's creator has confirmed that our final return to fictional high school Las Encinas will end on a high note, while the marketing for this season taps into the nostalgia of remembering everyone we've met and lost along the way - so it's unclear who among the OG cast may surprise us with a cameo to bid the show goodbye. We do know that trans actor Ander Puig, who plays trans character Nico, will return this season.

Beloved queer character Omar (played by out actor Omar Ayuso) returns, and so does his sister, Nadia (played by Mina El Hamman). This season will, of course, also introduce new hot characters to seduce and stir up drama among the student body, and contribute towards whatever drama ends with a literal dead body.

"Élite" Season 8 premieres July 26 on Netflix.

"Challengers"

Whether you (somehow, impossibly) haven't seen the movie of the summer yet, or have been waiting for the moment the film hit streaming so that you can finally watch all your favorite scenes on repeat in private, your time has come! The tense, suspenseful erotic drama is directed by out filmmaker and icon Luca Guadagnino.

"Challengers" flashes back to the past in key moments between a will-they-won't-they-have-they-already throuple (played by Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, and Mike Faist) who met as teenagers while training for their professional tennis careers. Tashi (Zendaya) is fierce and all-powerful to the two men, who have been inseparable for most of their lives – until the intensely competitive nature of being around Tashi completely changes their relationship. It's thrilling, it's horny, it's set to electro music you won't be able to get out of your head. It's the film of the summer for a reason. Enjoy!

"Challengers" premieres July 29 on MGM+.