Trivia / The L Word

• Actor-Inspired Element: The exploration of Bette's mixed race ancestry was suggested by Jennifer Beals, whose own heritage is really important to her.
• Actor Leaves, Character Dies: Pam Grier was unable to return for Generation Q due to conflicts with Bless This Mess, so Kit Porter was revealed to have died of a drug overdose.
• Actor-Shared Background:
  • Two examples from the original main cast:
    • Bette is biracial, having a black father and white mother, just as Jennifer Beals does. She's insistent on having this background if her character's heritage is ever shown. They are both Buddhists as well.
    • Jenny, like Mia Kirshner, is Jewish and her grandmother was imprisoned in Auschwitz (Kirshner's paternal grandparents were Holocaust survivors).
  • The L Word: Generation Q, the Sequel Series, incorporated new cast members' heritage into their characters:
    • Dani Nunez is half Chilean and half Iranian, like actress Arienne Mandi.
    • Gigi Ghorbani is of Iranian descent like actress Sepideh Moafi.
    • Sophie Suarez, like Rosanny Zayas, is a black Latina.
• …But I Play One on TV: Mia Kirshner told a story about how once when she was with some friends in a club in Vancouver, another girl came up to her and said "I hope you die." Presumably she was talking about Jenny Schecter. Mia however would have none of that, took the woman aside and explained she (like the woman) was here to have fun, and she worked to make money. Jenny was a fictional character, and it was fine it she wanted her to die. It was not okay to want Mia herself to die, because that was hurtful. The woman was taken aback.
• California Doubling: Inverted - The series took place in Los Angeles, but was filmed in Vancouver. Lampshaded at one point in Season 5, when Jenny is scouting locations for Lez Girls, and loudly proclaims that "Vancouver can't pass for L.A.!"
• Contractual Purity: Jennifer Beals is one of the only main characters whose bare breasts are never shown throughout the entire series.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Mia Kirshner said in an interview that she was sad seeing how her character ended up being a lunatic and a stereotype.
  • Even though she doesn't regret telling the story, Ilene Chaiken admitted in an interview that if she had known how much anger the death of Dana as a result of breast cancer was going to rise in people, she would have done it differently.
  • Lucy Lawless revealed in an interview that when shooting the scenes where her character questioned the women of the show about Jenny's death, the actresses were openly unhappy with the decision of killing the character and making the storyline into a possible murder mystery, with them as suspects.
• Creator Breakdown: In-Universe, after Dana dumps Alice between Seasons 2 and 3, Alice's radio show begins to suffer. At one point, a commercial for Alice's show plays on a nearby radio, consisting of little more than Alice screaming Dana's name at the top of her lungs.
• Disabled Character, Disabled Actor: Deaf actress Marlee Matlin plays deaf lesbian Jodi. Deanne Bray, who's deaf as well, plays Amy, whom she sees briefly before having a very nasty (public) breakup which includes a lot of fast, furious signing in ASL.
• Executive Meddling: In-setting, this trope comes into play at least once a season, costing just about every character their job at some point, and totally ruining Lez Girls.
• Fake American: Canadian Mia Kirshner plays American Jenny Schecter. Due to being filmed in Vancouver, many minor characters are also played by Canadians.
• Fake Nationality:
  • Iranian/Spanish-American Sarah Shahi played Mexican-American Carmen.
  • Indian-American Janina Gavankar as Papi, who's a Latina.
• Hide Your Pregnancy:
  • Jennifer Beals was pregnant with her daughter, Ella, during the third season. This was covered by having her wear powersuits.
  • Averted when Laurel Holloman became pregnant during the second season.
• Hostility on the Set: Kristanna Loken asked to be written off the series because she was overwhelmed by the mainly female crew:
  It's an entire show of women and the amount of egos and insecurities and cattiness that can go with a bunch of women - that's what you get. It attracts certain people that want to do something different in their career, but the girls were tough. Sometimes you wonder if they've bit off more than they can chew.
• In Memoriam: Ossie Davis had a recurring role as Bette's father. In the second season, Davis filmed scenes that showed his character becoming ill, then dying. Davis then died before his final episode was broadcast, so that episode was dedicated to him.
• The Other Darrin: Mark Berry replaced Mark Gibson in portraying Marcus Allenwood, Angelica's biological father via sperm donation, for Generation Q.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor: Laurel Holloman, Leisha Hailey, Katherine Moennig, Clementine Ford, Tammy Lynn Michaels, Guinevere Turner, Jane Lynch, Alexandra Holden, Kelly McGillis, Kristanna Loken, Karina Lombard and Heather Matarazzo are all lesbian or bisexual in real life, as well as playing lesbian or bisexual characters on the show (and Mia Kirshner has hinted at bisexuality in interviews). Amusingly, Leisha Hailey was the only actual (out) lesbian of the main cast (at the time), yet her character was bisexual. Daniel Sea, who played Max (a trans man who's initially identified as a lesbian cis woman) also had a very similar experience, coming out as non-binary and using they/them pronouns, still identifying as lesbian in solidarity with women though saying their orientation is more akin to bisexual. Katherine Moennig is notable for only realizing that she's a lesbian while she was working on the show, a rare example of a character being their actor's real-life Closet Key. This continued in its Sequel Series The L Word: Generation Q, adding new characters, mostly queer women but one trans man too, while most are played by actors of the same orientation or gender. Minor characters such as Rebecca Dowery (played by Olivia Thirlby, who's a bisexual woman like her) also followed this.
• Real-Life Relative: Phyllis Kroll and her daughter Molly are played by real life mother/daughter team Cybill Shepherd and Clementine Ford.
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: Scott Bairstow was originally cast as the male lead, but was replaced by Eric Mabius soon after allegations of sexual assault on a minor were made against him in 2003 (he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second degree assault on 9 December 2003).
• Role Reprise: Jennifer Beals (Bette), Katherine Moennig (Shane) and Leisha Hailey (Alice) all return to play their characters again in the Sequel Series The L Word: Generation Q. Laurel Holloman (Tina) also appeared as did Rosanna Arquette (Cherie Jaffe) and Anne Archer (Lenore Pieszecki) in recurring or guest roles as their characters on the original show too. Daniel Sea reappears as Max in one episode in Generation Q's second season, now in a happy relationship with four children (three biological, one adopted).
• Separated-at-Birth Casting: Max's sisters Maggie and Sioban are played by actresses who look close enough to his actor (plus each other) that one can easily believe they're all siblings.
• Throw It In!: The scene in season 2 episode 1 where Tina and Bette are at the planet and Tina throws the table towards Bette wasn't scripted. She was in fact supposed to throw a coffee cup or plate, not the table.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Lily Tomlin was offered a role, but turned down because the character was described as an "old lesbian" and she didn't feel connected to that concept.
  • Paris Hilton was considered for the role of Nikki Stevens.
• Working Title: Earthlings.
• Written-In Infirmity: Tina's pregnancy in season two was added when Laurel Holloman became pregnant.
• You Look Familiar: Boxer Lucia Rijker appeared for one episode as Dana's trainer. She came back a few years later as Dusty, Helena's cellmate that she hooks up with in season 5.

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