Heading into 2026, a noticeable gap in television will be evident, where a surplus of LGBTQ+ characters once existed, according to GLAAD’s annual “Where We Are On TV” report. Series that premiered between June 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025, featured 489 LGBTQ regular or recurring characters, up 21 characters from the previous year. But around 201 of these characters are not expected to return to their respective series.
GLAAD reports that the batch of characters “will not be returning due to series cancellations or endings, limited series format, or a character dying or leaving the show.” The number accounts for 41 percent of the total number of LGBTQ characters. Within that, show cancellations and endings are responsible for the departure of 159 characters.
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192 characters will appear on series that have been renewed, including FX’s Adults, as well as HBO’s The Last of Us and House of the Dragon. Another 96 will appear on series that have yet to be renewed or cancelled, leaving them in an uncertain limbo.
HBO’s And Just Like That… and The Sex Lives of College Girls are among the series that feature LGBTQ+ characters, but will not be returning following their respective series endings and cancellations after three seasons. The network’s Emmy Award-winning series Somebody Somewhere also ended after its third season. Showtime’s Yellowjackets will end after its upcoming fourth season, accounting for the departure of at least three queer characters. Prime Video’s Harlem and Peacock’s Laid have also been cancelled.
“Today, we are at a critical juncture, with hateful rhetoric running unchecked from politicians and newsmedia and given a falsely amplified platform, even as the majority of this country overwhelmingly supports the LGBTQ community,” GLAAD CEO and President Sarah Kate Ellis shared in a statement. “With so many diverse, entertaining, and impactful series being canceled at an alarming rate, it is imperative that networks and streamers do not back down.”
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