Following his GLAAD Media Award-nominated feature directorial debut, Anything’s Possible, Tony, Emmy, and Grammy-winner Billy Porter directs a powerful and emotional episode of the drama series Accused, airing on Fox on Tuesday, February 21st at 9pm ET/PT 8pm CT. The episode, “Robyn’s Story”, stars J. Harrison Ghee—currently appearing on Broadway in Some Like It Hot—as a drag artist Robyn, and features Anything’s Possible star Eva Reign as their supportive best friend, and The Deuce’s Chris Coy as man who has a major impact on Robyn’s life.
“It’s a drama about our justice system seen through the eyes of the accused”, Porter tells The Queer Review, “and the episode that I directed is about a drag artist who falls in love with a Southie Boston closeted man and things spiral out. It’s a difficult story and I loved that I got the phone call to direct it because creator Howard Gordon knew that I would bring authenticity to it and that I would tell it the right way, and that is fantastic.”
“Something has cracked open”, Porter continues, “where not only are there more types of stories being told with different kinds of people, but we’re also moving into this space where the actual people whose story you’re telling are the people who get to tell it. I am grateful to be on that trajectory in this business. It’s been a long time coming.”
Watch a clip of Accused “Robyn’s Story”:
Based on the BBC’s BAFTA-winning crime anthology, Accused is a collection of 15 intense and topical stories exploring a different crime in a different city with an original cast. Each episode opens in a courtroom on the defendant, with viewers knowing nothing about their crime or how they ended up on trial. Told from the defendant’s point of view through flashbacks, the show holds a mirror up to current times.
As the episodes unfold, the audience discovers how an ordinary person became caught up in extraordinary circumstances, and how one impulsive decision can impact the course of that life, and the lives of others forever. The series cast features Michael Chiklis (who also directs an episode), Abigail Breslin, Whitney Cummings, Margo Martindale, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Wendell Pierce, Rachel Bilson, Jack Davenport, Molly Parker, Rhea Perlman, Betsy Brandt, Keith Carradine, Aisha Dee, and Jason Ritter. Other directors include Marlee Matlin and Tazbah Chavez.
New episodes of Accused air on Fox on Tuesdays at 9/8c.
Watch our full interview with Billy Porter on Accused, 80 For Brady, Anything’s Possible, his favourite queer culture and more:
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