Love, Victor’s Ava Capri says bringing queer, female representation to show felt ‘therapeutic’
Lake (Bebe Wood), and Lucy (Ava Capri). (Kelsey McNeal/Hulu)
For most of its run, Love, Victor was focused primarily on its two gay male leads – but it’s finally getting some female queer representation.
Lucy was introduced in season two as Andrew’s girlfriend, but by the end writers were teasing a queer romance between her and Lake.
The season three trailer has already revealed that the two end up dating. And it’s something Ava Capri is thrilled about.
“It’s so meaningful to me,” Capri tells PinkNews.
“I wasn’t out in high school so the process of playing a character that was [openly queer], it felt very therapeutic to me… The idea that people now get to see that reflected on screen – and yeah, there’s a little something for the girls this season, which I’m really excited about and I hope it resonates with people.”
Ava Capri attends the Los Angeles premiere of Hulu’s Original Film “Crush”. (Jon Kopaloff/Getty)
One of the most striking things about Love, Victor is that it’s full of happy queer stories. For too long, all LGBTQ+ people were given by Hollywood were fragments of films and TV shows that showed queer characters dying or heartbroken. Thankfully, shows like Love, Victor – and more recently Heartstopper – are challenging those tropes.
“I love how much joy there is in this show,” Capri says. “I love that there’s this happy ending for everyone. It’s also like, while it is still hard and there’s a lot of pain and trauma with the queer experience, there is so much joy and it is so truthful to feel the joy, and that’s an amazing thing the show does. You laugh, you cry, you feel good. You feel proud.”
Ava Capri hopes Love, Victor makes queer people feel seen
Fans were heartbroken when it was announced that the third season of Love, Victor would be its last, but one thing’s for sure – its legacy will live on. Thanks to streaming, LGBTQ+ youth will continue finding the show and getting to know its characters for years to come.
Ava Capri says: “I feel like it is a trailblazing show in its centring of a queer character of colour and his story, and then highlighting so many different aspects and colours of what different queer experiences are… I hope that to young people and old people alike, that it… [makes them] feel seen or helps them to learn something about someone they love and what it might be like for them.”
While Capri is proud of Love, Victor, she also admits that it feels bittersweet to be saying goodbye.
“When we found out for sure that it was going to be the final season, there was just this energy shift. It was already such a loving set, but I feel like everyone was really soaking it up.
“Especially for myself, even with the cast and the crew, I felt like I wanted to savour every moment of getting to work with these specific people and tell this specific story.
“It meant a lot to me,” she adds.
PinkNews also spoke to Love, Victor’s creators about its “bittersweet” ending, and to George Sears about how he “grieved” the show.
Love, Victor season three is streaming on Disney+ in the UK and on Hulu in the United States.
