About rattling time, after almost twenty years, Noah’s Arc—the present that put Black queer love, loss, friendship and fabulousness on display screen earlier than it was stylish—is getting its lengthy overdue flowers and a film. That’s proper: the long-lasting collection is coming again this June on Paramount+, simply in time for Delight Month. The ladies, the gays and the group chats are already vibrating.
Created by Patrik-Ian Polk, Noah’s Arc initially premiered in 2005 and gave us one thing we had by no means seen earlier than: a crew of unapologetically Black homosexual males dwelling, loving and sometimes side-eyeing one another via life in Los Angeles. There was Noah—our tender, fashion-forward author with a coronary heart filled with hope. Alex, the no-nonsense ride-or-die with a telephone invoice filled with gossip. Ricky, the lover boy with a PhD in flirting. And Probability, the bougie mental who made us need to get a grasp’s diploma simply to argue with somebody cute. Collectively, they constructed a world that was radical merely for current.
Earlier than Noah’s Arc, in the event you had been a Black queer viewer hungry for a mirrored image, you needed to squint your eyes on the white-on-white drama of Queer as People or play identification Tetris with facet characters in straight-led sitcoms. Black homosexual males weren’t simply underrepresented—they had been invisible. And after they had been seen, they had been jokes, stereotypes or tragic plot twists. Noah’s Arc modified that. It didn’t simply middle Black queer tales—it dignified them, layered them, and allow them to be attractive and non secular, messy and significant.
This second film marks a full-circle second, not only for the characters however for the followers who grew up watching them. The nostalgia is potent, just like the odor of cocoa butter and incense at your homeboy’s residence earlier than brunch. However there’s additionally anticipation: what do Noah and the boys appear like now, in an period of “they/them” visibility, ballroom mainstreaming, and Instagram therapists? How have their friendships, wishes and disappointments aged?
In a world nonetheless catching as much as what Noah’s Arc was saying 20 years in the past, this film isn’t only a reunion—it’s a reminder. That Black queer love tales matter. That pleasure is revolutionary. And that the perfect arcs are those that come again round.
So, clear your June watchlist and have your group thread prepared. As a result of the boys are again—and child, it’s giving divine timing.