Yael instantly recognized that this term felt closest to their own experience.
Is that something youre thinking about?
Weve told every story we possibly can.
Credit: DHX Media
Theres nothing more to do.
How can we carry on?
The writers are fantastic.
They always surprise us.
They come back after a month or two and we have our brainstorming sessions.
One of the reasons weve carried on for as long as we have is we cast age-appropriately.
Our actors are always close to the characters theyre portraying in age, which is important for authenticity.
But it comes from a different point of view, and its portrayed by a different actor.
Its embodied in a completely different character who has a different life experience.
So that allows us to carry on and explore different issues in a different way.
One of the things you touch upon this season is this idea of gender fluidity.
When did you know that was a storyline you wanted to explore?Its an ongoing story.
Weve seen it in America.
And not just it, theres a whole bunch of different variations.
The scene I actually like the most is not one that Yael is in.
Its one where all their friends are expressing their own confusion about their gender: Do I say they?
Or do I not say they?
And theyre using the terms incorrectly and theyre sort of correcting each other.
Thats the way we and our young audiences all are.
We know theres something out there thats different and we want to be supportive.
But we can get confused about it.
Of course, Yael themselves is completely confused about it.
Last season we saw that Yael was not comfortable with more traditional girly activities.
That was important because people are different.
It becomes more defined.
Jamie Bloch who plays Yael is a very good actress.
And if were going to make mistakes, they need to be intentional mistakes.
But she was great.
She and the writers get along really well, and so they worked it out.
How are you applying the term gender fluid within the show?
But from Yaels perspective, theyre struggling with it.
So, they know that.
But they just dont feel like a girly-girl.
They understand this concept of fluidity.
But Im not sure the character themselves would necessarily even know the term non-binary now…
This reminds me of Miles because in the past hes never used the word bisexual.
And he used it so casually this season when describing himself, too.
That was such a big moment for him.Yes.
The audience was saying, Why doesnt he come out?
But Miles is not a wise person who knows everything.
All he knows is what hes feeling and who hes loving.
So using the term [isnt something hes thinking of].
But eventually this season, he does come out and use the term bisexual.
Its similar to Yael, which is that Miles is just feeling these things and not necessarily labeling them.
Degrassi: Next Classis currently available to stream on Netflix.
