We’re Here, an unscripted series that sees drag shows set up in small-town America, starts season two on HBO Oct. 11. Each episode sees Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara and Shangela Laquifa Wadley visit a different town “to inspire and teach their own ‘drag daughters’ to step outside their comfort zone for a night of no-holds-barred, full-on drag,” said HBO.
Stephen Warren and Johnnie Ingram created the show and are executive producers. “It’s a show that is political, that is emotional, that is sentimental. It captures all the emotions that we care so much about,” said Warren in the Series Business podcast. “At its core, it shows the world a connection can exist where you wouldn’t think a connection could exist.”
We’re Here came to be around three years ago. Warren and Ingram, who both have an activist background, were on vacation, and it was raining. They watched RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars and they started thinking. “What if we got outside of that box and brought extraordinary drag performers into small communities?” wondered Ingram. “What would happen?”
We’re Here launched in April 2020. There were supposed to be glitzy premieres, but then the pandemic happened. “Our ability to reach an audience in traditional ways just went away,” said Warren. “But on the other hand, people needed at that moment a show that provided the emotional support.”
Stops this season include Spartanburg, South Carolina; Del Rio, Texas and Selma, Alabama.
Not everyone welcomes the drag queens with open arms. Sometimes there are confrontations. The creators said the We’re Here gang is often the only people in town wearing masks.
Ingram said the We’re Here crew has each other's backs. “If you wanna mess with us, you have to mess with all of us,” he said.
