Gay

With Queens of the Dead, Tina Romero, daughter of the legendary filmmaker George A. Romero, is set to make her first directorial outing, premiering the feature at the Tribeca Film Festival June 7. The filmmaker recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly and reflected on her father’s influence.

“I am his kid. There’s no denying it. And he has influenced me greatly.” Romero said. Queens of the Dead will feature Easter eggs to honor her father’s legacy. “And this is his monster, this is his genre. I had fun doing my little Romero nods throughout the film, and we have some good ones,” she shared, including appearances by notable figures such as makeup artist and actor Tom Savini and Dawn of the Dead star Gaylen Ross.

“The zombie apocalypse is such a rich sandbox to play in when it comes to social commentary. I can’t be my dad’s daughter without making an attempt at saying something with zombies,” Romero told the magazine. “I did want this to be a film in which I am paying homage to the world and the monster he created, but I’m also introducing my own voice. It’s very much not a film he would make, but it is using his vocabulary and is playing by his rules. As far as the queer element, on one hand, I just feel like the gays need a zombie film. It’s time that we get to have a big gay zombie movie.”

“I didn’t want to touch the genre unless it felt authentic to me,” Romero emphasized. Queens of the Dead revolves around a night in the queer party scene when the nightlife vibes at a warehouse drag show get interrupted by the zombie apocalypse. The inspiration came from intense conflict on social media among party promoters during her stint as a DJ.

Romero recounted, “The original promoter posted this manifesto begging the question, ‘When will the queer community stop devouring its own?’ And it hit me like a bolt of lightning. I was like, ‘Oh my God! This would be how I want to explore the zombie genre in this world of queer nightlife.’” The Mandalorian baddie Katy O’Brien plays the fictionalized promoter who leads the film; Romero noted that there’s a special thanks to Tom Cruise in the credits for letting them take the time off their Mission: Impossible shoot to film the horror flick.

Romero hopes the film will shine a light on the hunger for more genre films that represent an intersection of gay scream queens with that familiar flair for horror and dark comedy from her father’s roots. The legendary filmmaker didn’t get to see a completed script but mentored his daughter during the development process.

Romero shared, “He said, ‘I love it! Run with it. Go for it.’ Unfortunately, he never got to read the completed script because it took me about seven years to get this developed… but I did have this blessing.”

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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Screenshot: Blizzard Entertainment / Kotaku

Way back in 2019, Blizzard confirmed that Soldier: 76, Overwatch’s grumpy grandpa, is a member of the queer community. The titular organization’s ex-commander, whose real name is Jack Morrison, is gay and was involved with a man named Vincent many years before the events of the game. This was revealed in a short story called “Bastet,” which focused on him and Ana, who were close comrades during the group’s heyday. In the story, Morrison reflects on his old flame, and it sounds like the two split because Soldier was so dedicated to the group’s cause that it put a strain on their relationship. But the game itself hasn’t really acknowledged Soldier’s long-lost love outside of a spray of the two giving each other the Christian Side Hug. That’s finally changed in Overwatch 2’s 16th season.

Overwatch 2’s New Story Missions: Worth The Money?

Blizzard periodically adds new pre-match interactions between its heroes with the start of a new season and in the big mid-season patch, often spotlighting a handful of characters with each new wave, rather than adding something for all 40+ heroes at once. And with season 16, which started late last month, Soldier: 76 is one of the characters to benefit. The latest wave includes a conversation with Baptiste, who playfully asks if anyone has ever “captured the heart” of the grizzled vigilante. Soldier doesn’t mention Vincent by name, but does say there was someone, and laments that he hasn’t seen him “in a long time.”

Baptiste apologizes for bringing up bad memories, but Soldier says that “these days, that’s all [he’s] got.” Shot me right through the heart, Blizzard. Thanks for that.

It’s been so long since we first learned that Vincent existed, some folks in the comments of videos featuring the conversation are assuming it’s about Reaper, with whom fans have shipped Soldier: 76 for almost a decade. For several years, Overwatch 2’s handling of queer themes existed in a weird place of plausible deniability. It came up in external media, but was rarely acknowledged in the game itself, to the point where you could push payloads without ever once having to consider that Tracer was a lesbian or Soldier was gay. In recent years, Blizzard has made a pretty concentrated effort to be more explicit about all the LGBTQ+ characters on its roster. 2023 was a real turning point for the game, starting with the release of Lifeweaver who was confirmed as a pansexual character at launch. In June, the game got its first Pride event, which confirmed a few more queer heroes, added Pride flag cosmetics, and updated the Midtown map to cover it in rainbows for a Pride parade. Venture, the shooter’s first non-binary hero, was announced at Blizzcon that year and released in 2024.

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George Romero’s Daughter Made a Gay Zombie Movie, With Her Father’s Blessing

Overwatch 2 Finally Acknowledges Soldier: 76’s Gay Ex-Boyfriend