Summer is about to be even more exciting as a gender nonconforming hero is making her way to our screens via Netflix.
Titular character ‘Nimona’ is decribed as a “shapeshifting troublemaker,” who is portrayed by Chloë Grace Moretz. Meanwhile, Riz Ahmed stars as Ballister Blackheart who is framed for killing the queen, and thereafter becomes a “disgraced knight-turned-reluctant villain.”
The two characters team up in the upcoming animated adventure movie, which is said to feature “timely depictions of gay love and gender nonconformity.” Moreover, ‘Nimona’ is based on ND Stevenson’s acclaimed graphic novel of the same title.
Prior to the 2015 graphic novel, Nimona made her first appearance in Stevenson’s short-form web comic, which was originally published on Tumblr in 2012. In a statement during a press conference via Yahoo! Entertainment, Stevenson, who identifies as transmasculine and bigender, shared that Nimona was his “outlet for wrestling with his own gender identity.”
“The comic itself was something that I made before I was out in any way. It’s very obvious now what feelings I was working through at the time, even the desire to shapeshift so badly is one that has so much meaning in my life now,” the 31-year-old American cartoonist expressed.
And as for how ‘Nimona’ ended up on Netflix, Disney actually had first dibs on the animated movie, but the gay storyline between Ballister and Ambrosius Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang) reportedly scared them off.
‘Nimona’ is set to premiere on Netflix on June 30. In the meantime, you can watch the official trailer here:
Sources: yahoo.com/entertainment, hollywoodreporter.com
