Ridley Jones, a new kids’ show from Netflix premiering July 13, is about an adventure-loving girl who lives in a museum with her mother and grandmother—and whose friends include a nonbinary bison and a mummy girl with two dad mummies. It’s the latest show from Chris Nee, creator of Doc McStuffins and Vampirina (and also a lesbian mom). Watch the first episode and the song “My Two Dads and Me” here.
I am here to change the world. Or retire trying. I know what it is to be ‘othered’. My job is to show the world as I want it to be.
Nee tweeted about the show, “I am here to change the world. Or retire trying. I know what it is to be ‘othered’. My job is to show the world as I want it to be.” She added that “Part of wanting to set a show in a museum was the ability to put diverse communities butting up against each other and learning to love each other.”
The eponymous Ridley (Iara Nemirovsky) is a fedora-donning, vest-wearing, equipment-carrying, rope-swinging, animal-loving, science-nerding girl with a zest for adventure. The Indiana Jones analogy is obvious in her name and trademark hat—and in one scene from the first episode (below), Ridley uses a classic Indiana Jones move to solve a problem (but I won’t spoil it). Alongside her mother and grandmother, she protects the museum she calls home—no easy task, because when the lights go out, the exhibits come to life!
Chris Nee explained that with Ridley, “I wanted to create a girl action adventure character, and I wanted to tell a classic hero story with that same girl. Ridley is a perfect hero.” In the premiere episode (below), Ridley first learns about the exhibits’ special powers and meets some new friends, including Fred the Bison (Ezra Menas, who is nonbinary) and young mummy Ismat (Ashlyn Madden).
“Is Fred a he or a she?” Ridley asks astronaut monkey Peaches (Laraine Newman). “I don’t know, they’re just Fred,” Peaches replies. “Cool,” says Ridley, before zooming off for a tour of the museum. Unconditional. Acceptance.
Nee said of Fred, “Fred is a non-binary bison who combs their fur into horns and wants to imagine they’re the biggest and toughest when they’re secretly adorable. I put so much of myself in this character. And then @ezra_menas came and brought Fred to life. I love them.” A New York Times profile of Nee notes that a future episode will involve Fred not wanting to go to a ball at the museum, because they don’t feel comfortable in the dresses they’ve always worn. Ridley helps them find a suit that fits their current self.
Fred is the first nonbinary character in a Netflix show for younger children, but Dreamworks Animation’s Madagascar: A Little Wild recently introduced Odee the Okapi, also voiced by Menas. (Netflix’s She-Ra includes the nonbinary character Double Trouble (Jacob Tobia), but that’s aimed at somewhat older children.) This is progress (though I’d still love to see a human nonbinary character on a young kids’ show). Sesame Street last week aired an episode that for the first time featured a two-dad family in the main segment of the show, but they have not (yet?) shown nonbinary characters.
In another episode of Ridley Jones, Ismat introduces Ridley and the rest of the friends to her dads (Andrew Rannells and Chris Colfer, both gay). Ridley notices that Ismat hasn’t said anything about her dads before, and asks her, “You weren’t trying to hide the fact that you have two dads, were you? ‘Cause that seems awesome to me.” Ismat replies, “No, having two dads is the best. I get to hear twice the dad jokes.” The problem is, though, that Ismat is tired of being mummy royalty, surrounded by fawning servants. “Sometimes I long to be an ordinary family. Just my two dads and me,” she sings in the clip below.
In a smaller but notable role is Jane Lynch as Lonny, the museum’s security guard. It’s unclear if Lonny identifies as a lesbian, like Lynch—but she certainly pings my gaydar. (I mean … it’s Jane Lynch.)
Having fought so hard in the past to do a single episodes with same sex parents … it was a joy to introduce recurring characters without any pushback at all.
A 2017 episode of Nee’s earlier show, Doc McStuffins, included a two-mom family and was the first Disney Junior Show to depict clearly LGBTQ characters. The moms, played by Wanda Sykes and Portia de Rossi, were named after Thea Spyer and Edie Windsor (a fact I was proud to be the first to point out in the media), and their two children were named Gertie and Brandon, after Gertrude Stein and Brandon Teena, queer icons all. Nee tweeted about the dads in Ridley Jones, “Having fought so hard in the past to do a single episodes with same sex parents (thank you @iamwandasykes) it was a joy to introduce recurring characters without any pushback at all.”
After you watch the first episode below, you can catch Ridley Jones on Netflix July 13. Also premiering on July 4 on Netflix is Nee’s We the People, a series of 10 animated music videos for older children that cover a range of basic U.S. civics lessons through original songs performed by artists such as H.E.R., Janelle Monáe, Brandi Carlile (another queer mom!), Lin-Manuel Miranda, Adam Lambert, Cordae, Bebe Rexha, KYLE, Andra Day, and poet Amanda Gorman.