The Love, Simon TV series is on the move.
Officially titled Love, Victor, the project that was developed and produced for Disney+ will follow High Fidelity and make the jump to Hulu. Additionally, a writers room has already been opened for season two of the series in a sign that shows Disney’s faith after seeing cuts of all 10 completed episodes of its upcoming debut.
Love, Victor is set to debut during Pride Month in June and revolve around Victor, a new student at Creekwood High School. (That’s the same high school as in the 2018 Fox 2000 movie starring Nick Robinson.) The Disney+-turned-Hulu take follows Victor on his own journey of self-discovery, facing challenges at home, adjusting to a new city and struggling with his sexual orientation.
Sources say that Disney thought the half-hour comedy featured more adult themes than it was comfortable featuring on family-focused Disney+, which is the company’s streaming centerpiece and highest priority. Those topics include alcohol use, marital issues (among the parents) and sexual exploration. Sources note that those themes were a concern for Disney+ execs, who feared they would not resonate with families who watch the service with young kids. Sources note that Disney also believed Love, Victor would be a better fit alongside Hulu’s YA programming that includes PEN15 and the limited series Looking for Alaska and streaming rights to Freeform’s Black-ish spinoff Grown-ish, all of which explore similar coming-of-age themes with a sometimes dramatic tone.
It is increasingly common in the Peak TV era for programming to jump from one platform to another, especially as media titans like Disney review all of their platforms to make decisions on what best fits where. Other companies, like WarnerMedia, continue to make similar moves (like Search Party moving from TBS to the streamer HBO Max).
Love, Simon screenwriters Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker (who also serve as co-showrunners alongside creator Dan Fogelman on NBC’s This Is Us) return to serve as showrunners on the Disney+ series. Greg Berlanti — who directed the Fox 2000 pic that was the first feature with a gay lead — will not return in any capacity on the project. The prolific producer, who has a record number of scripted series currently on the air, is precluded from being involved with the new series due to his exclusive overall deal with Warner Bros. Television. Love, Victor is being produced by Disney-owned 20th Century Fox TV.
Michael Cimino stars as Victor. The cast includes Ana Ortiz, James Martinez, Isabella Ferreira and Mateo Fernandez. Robinson, who starred as Simon in the pic — based on author Becky Albertalli’s Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda — will return as exec producer and narrator for the Hulu original. Robinson, it’s worth noting, next stars in A Teacher, the limited series that was developed by Disney-owned FX and which will debut in a special “FX on Hulu” section of Hulu rather than have a linear run.
