A dramedy based on the life of RuPaul is coming to television.
Streaming giant Hulu is developing the series, which is currently titled, Queen. J.J. Abrams is producing.
Confirmed by Variety, the show “will present a fictionalized version of RuPaul’s rise to prominence beginning in 1980’s New York up to the present day as a world-renowned drag queen and global icon for the LGBT community.”
RuPaul will executive produce alongside Abrams and Ben Stephenson, as well as World of Wonder’s Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, and Tom Campbell.
We first reported about the series in March, when it was first announced that RuPaul’s World of Wonder was teaming up with Abrams’ Bad Robot for a scripted dramedy.
Born RuPaul Andre Charles in San Diego, but known professionally by his mononym RuPaul, since 2009, he has hosted and produced the drag queen reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race, for which he won an Emmy in 2016. RuPaul achieved international fame as a drag queen with the hit song “Supermodel (You Better Work)” from his album “Supermodel of the World” (1993). In 1996, he became a spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics, becoming the first drag queen supermodel. The same year, he landed his own talk show “The RuPaul Show” which ran for two years on VH1 before co-hosting the morning radio show on WKTU with Michelle Visage. He has since released as many as 10 albums, and made appearances in films including Spike Lee’s “Crooklyn” (1994), and “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar” (1995).
His hit reality television series RuPaul’s Drag Race, which follows RuPaul in his search for the next drag superstar, has produced eight seasons and inspired the spin-off shows RuPaul’s Drag U & RuPaul’s All Stars Drag Race.