EXCLUSIVE: Meet the New Gay in “The Fosters” Spin-Off, “Good Trouble”

One of my all-time favorite moments on The Fosters is when Lena tells Mariana, “DNA doesn’t make a family, love does.” At its root, The Fosters was a show about our chosen family — albeit bound together legally through adoption — and its spin-off, Good Trouble, which debuts next week on Freeform, is ultimately about the same thing. Good Trouble picks up where The Fosters left off: with Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) and Callie (Maia Mitchell) headed north, from their sleepy San Diego suburb to the bright lights of Los Angeles, to start their new jobs. Mariana’s fresh out of MIT and excited to start work at a tech startup, while Callie’s balancing her competitive clerkship with a conservative judge and preparations to take the bar exam. They find their home and what may become their chosen family at the Coterie, a communal living space in downtown LA.

GOOD TROUBLE – Freeform’s “Good Trouble” stars Tommy Martinez as Gael, Zuri Adele as Malika, Cierra Ramirez as Mariana Adams Foster, Maia Mitchell as Callie Adams Foster, Emma Hunton as Davia, Roger Bart as Judge Wilson, Sherry Cola as Alice, and Josh Pence as Dennis. (Freeform/Gus&Lo)

The Coterie overflows with compelling personalities, most notably, Alice Kwan (Sherry Cola), the manager of the building and de facto house mother. Rather than having me tell you about it, why not get the scoop on Alice from the actress herself — whom you might remember from her short stint on Claws last summer — thanks to an exclusive clip from our friends at Freeform:

According to GLAAD’s most recent “Where We Are on TV” report, Asian/Pacific Islanders make up 8.5% of the LGBTQ regular and recurring characters on network, cable and streaming television. Though there’s still work to do when it comes to API representation, the numbers reflect the highest levels of representation since GLAAD started tracking the data. What’s particularly exciting about LGBTQ API representation is the different types of stories we’re seeing: from Grace Choi on Black Lightning and Nico Minoru on Marvel’s Runaways to Adena El-Amin on The Bold Type to Leila on The Bisexual. I’m excited to see how Alice adds to the diverse stories we’ve been seeing.

Excited to learn more about Alice? Or seeing what Callie and Mariana are up to? Tune in to the debut of Good Trouble on Freeform on January 8 or visit Hulu or Freeform.com now to get an early look at the first episode.

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Natalie

A black biracial, bisexual girl raised in the South, working hard to restore North Carolina's good name. Lover of sports, politics, good TV and Sonia Sotomayor. You can follow her latest rants on Twitter.

Natalie has written 417 articles for us.

15 Comments

  1. YESSS I was trying to decide whether or not to watch Good Trouble because I was really into the Fosters for Stef and Lena but god bless them for making this spinoff Callie & Mariana focused and for knowing that so many of their viewers are here for our #LesbianContent!! Everytime we get a new qpoc on tv my heart grows two sizes also so triple Hurrah!

  2. Loved this clip and am surprisingly excited for this spin-off?? Let’s go The Fosters! (in any shape or form!)

    Thanks for grabbing an Exclusive for us, Natalie!

    • Not sure how I made that mistake, especially after watching an old episode of The Fosters where Brandon and Callie head near Tijuana to rescue Jude. Thanks for the correction, @needlesandpin, I’ve updated the post.

  3. Just watched the first episode on the Freeform website! It seems okay so far; it’s great to see Callie & Mariana again. I am still mourning the loss of The Fosters.

    I hope they make Callie pan/bi/queer and bring back Ximena or introduce another great female (or non-binary) love interest for her. Still can’t get over the fact that The Fosters, of all shows, queerbaited us in this way.

    I was glad to see the beginnings of a BLM storyline, though I do not trust them to handle it well. I would like the writers & showrunners to deal with the fact that The Fosters never truly addressed what it meant to have a white cop (Stef) married to a black woman (Lena). I wonder if they will have Callie wrestle with this and her whiteness. I guess we will find out.

    • Hmm how did they queerbait with Callie? They had her queer friend, who seemed to have feelings for her, kiss her one time at a moment of high excitement, but they never gave any indication that Callie liked women at all. Just because Callie didn’t react angrily doesn’t make it queerbaiting.

      And haven’t they already shown Callie being confronted with her whiteness when she was dating AJ and recklessly putting him in situations where he could get in far worse trouble than her as a black man? It was one of the reasons they broke up. I definitely hope it’s brought up again with this storyline, but they have a track record for calling out Callie’s ignorance about the privilege her status as a white woman holds.

  4. Well, I guess I’m gonna have to watch Good Trouble now… here’s hoping for guest visits from Stef and Lena

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