90210 executive producer Rebecca
Sinclair says Trevor Donovan's character Teddy Montgomery is rattled
“to his core” by his sexuality.
Next season's coming out gay storyline
was supposed to remain a secret until the nighttime teenage drama
returned to the CW in the fall. But now that the cat's out of the
bag, Sinclair
spoke with Entertainment
Weekly
about how the story will proceed.
Sinclair said Donovan's all-American
jock character Teddy doesn't learn about his sexuality through
experimentation or an epiphany. Instead, he's been repressing his
feelings all along.
“With Teddy, we're attempting to tell
a much more dramatic story about something that rattles him to his
core,” she said. “Though, thankfully, we live in an age where
lots of teens are comfortable with their sexual orientation and are
able to come out when they're in high school or even before, we
didn't want to ignore the reality that for lots of kids the road to
self-acceptance for a gay teenager isn't easy. This is going to be a
dramatic, at times painful, but hopefully ultimately cathartic
journey for him.”
Teddy will be paired up with Ian, who
is described by Sinclair as a “self-confident funny guy who is very
much out and comfortable with his gayness.” Canadian pop star Kyle
Riabko will play the role.
Donovan
has said it's “cool” that he got picked to play gay on the show.
90210 returns to the CW on
September 13.