Getting older doesn’t scare Geena Davis.
The 70-year-old actor isn’t rolling her eyes at the phrase or pretending aging comes with some inevitable decline. In fact, she’d argue she’s enjoying this chapter more than ever.
“I think it’s fabulous,” Davis tells Yahoo. “I’ve liked myself better every year. I even think I look better every year! I don’t know if that will switch at some point. Maybe not. But it’s fun. You don’t worry about age anymore.”
That outlook feels fitting for her latest role.
In Netflix’s new sci-fi series The Boroughs, Davis plays Renee, a worldly, strong woman living in a seemingly idyllic senior community where a dark secret forces residents to prove they’re more formidable during their retirement than anyone imagined.
“She’s older, you know, but hasn’t changed clearly,” Davis says of her character. “She’s still thriving and living the good life. … She likes to say she doesn’t really belong in this retirement community because she knows she’s all that.”
That sentiment hits home for Davis, who’d like Hollywood to imagine more for women over 50. Here, the Oscar winner opens up about fighting for better representation, rediscovering desire onscreen and becoming an unlikely Gen Z icon.
One thing she doesn’t think should expire: Romance
Davis’s character doesn’t go to the retirement community to waste away her final years. She flirts. She falls for someone. She gets to be desired. And for Davis, that felt refreshingly rare.
Her character’s love interest is played by Carlos Miranda, who is roughly 30 years younger, and it’s a dynamic Hollywood has historically been more comfortable showing in reverse.
“Oh, he’s a dream,” Davis says. “He’s such a wonderful person. And we had so much fun together. We really did. And, you know, he’s really cute.”
Then she laughs.
“To be sexual like that when you’re my age — how often does that come along? I’m with a much younger guy. So that was fun.”
But when asked whether she thinks Hollywood is finally normalizing older women paired with younger men onscreen, Davis isn’t convinced that one role can change an industry.
“I don’t have faith in things onscreen starting a trend,” she says.
Davis during Sabrina Carpenter’s Coachella set.
One thing she didn’t expect: becoming Gen Z’s newest icon
Davis has had an unexpectedly strong run with younger audiences lately. Her surprise appearance with Sabrina Carpenter at Coachella in April quickly became one of the internet’s favorite crossover moments.
Davis was amused by the reaction.
“It was incredible,” she says. “And it came up so suddenly. [Sabrina’s] a darling woman. She’s incredible. I loved her.”
She was even more amused at what came next. “I was like, I’m trending? That’s crazy.”
To be sexual like that when you’re my age — how often does that come along?
When I point out that younger audiences have been rediscovering her work, she smiles.
“I didn’t realize that there was so much crossbreeding there, but that’s fabulous,” she says. “I love that.”
Some fans tell her they picked up sports because of A League of Their Own. Others know her from her role on Grey’s Anatomy. “A lot of teenagers say, ‘Are you Dr. Herman?’” she says.
One thing that still surprises her: Thelma & Louise lives on
Thirty-five years after Thelma & Louise, Davis still seems genuinely surprised that audiences continue to appreciate it.
Whenever an anniversary rolls around, she says she and costar Susan Sarandon usually find themselves celebrating again.
“And we’re like, this is just living on,” she says, pausing. “Nobody realized at that time that movies were going to have this long life! So it’s kind of fabulous that people are still watching the movies for the first time.”
One thing she’s still waiting for: More stories about women her age
For Davis, part of getting older isn’t just becoming more comfortable with herself — it’s finally seeing characters her age take up space.
That’s part of what stood out to her about The Boroughs, which doesn’t treat its older cast as background characters, comic relief or symbols of decline. Instead, the retirement community at the center of the show becomes a place where people are still falling in love, making mistakes, chasing excitement and, occasionally, fighting monsters.
“The fact that this show is about older characters — that there’s six main characters who are sort of around their 70s — so it [is] fantastic,” Davis says.
“That’s the point. We get to be heroic and brave and all those things that you would presume a younger character would be.”
But despite decades in Hollywood — and years advocating for representation through the Geena Davis Institute — she says age remains one of the industry’s biggest blind spots.
“For women over 50 being represented, we have a long way to go,” she says. ”
At the same time, Davis says she’s encouraged by places where progress is visible.
“We have made tremendous progress since we started this with female characters — and particularly in kids’ entertainment,” she says. “We’ve really reached parity now, which is phenomenal.”
With The Boroughs, she says she finally got the kind of story she’d been hoping to see.
“This show is perfect.”
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