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Foliage and pumpkin spice are nice and all, but the real reason I’m ready for the turning of the seasons is the fall 2024 release calendar. Beach reads are fun, but the books you really want to sink your teeth into tend to come out after summer ends. I love reality TV as much as the next couch potato, but autumn is when networks release the kind of shows you make a point to watch. And for better or for worse, most of the year’s best films are crammed into a three-month release window at the end of the year in a bid for Oscars attention. The sun may go down earlier, but queer culture vultures like me come out at night, and we feast on the many offerings available to us.
But if you’re not a screen-obsessed indoor kid and you actually have a fleshed-out social calendar, maybe you’ll only have time to see a few movies or sit down with a couple of books in the coming months. That’s why we here at Them combed through the calendar and selected some of the best (and queerest) movies, TV shows, albums, and books that you’ll want to check out in fall 2024. And there’s a lot of LGBTQ+ fare on tap!
At the theater, you can take a road trip across America with Will Ferrell or walk the yellow brick road with Cynthia Erivo. On the small screen, you can check out one of the best-reviewed new comedies in recent memory or a witchy show that’s been touted as Marvel’s “gayest project” ever. Music lovers can look forward to a posthumous album from legendary late producer SOPHIE, along with new releases from Dua Saleh, Lady Gaga, and more. Meanwhile, bookworms will want to check out an important travelog about trans youth seeking acceptance in America or a lesbian knight romance perfect for fans of Chappell Roan’s medieval VMAs look.
Below, please find a curated selection of fall 2024 books, albums, movies, and shows we’re looking forward to at Them. — Samantha Allen
Click here to jump to a section: Movies, TV Shows, Albums, Books
Movies
This touching Netflix documentary follows comedic legend Will Ferrell and his close friend Harper Steele, who came out as a trans woman in 2021, on a cross-country road trip as they adjust to their shifting interpersonal dynamic. In our review, we called their emotional journey “beautiful, messy, and perfectly imperfect.” Bring tissues. — Samantha Allen
Director Sean Baker’s latest filmic ode to sex workers won the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes this past May (not to mention a nearly eight minute-long standing O), and we’ve been eagerly awaiting its theatrical release since then. Mikey Madison (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) stars as the titular Anora, a stripper and sex worker from Brooklyn who goes on a wild week-long Vegas bender with Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a Russian oligarch. What could possibly go wrong? — James Factora
All you need to know about this one is the elevator pitch: a true-crime documentary about a catfishing scheme aimed at fans of the indie duo Tegan and Sara. I’m sold, and I will be seated when it arrives on Hulu in late October. — Samantha Allen
Based on the 2016 novel of the same name, Conclave follows the tense power struggle for a new pope after the sitting one dies in his sleep. The trailer alone makes this psychological thriller seem like it’s going to be a campy delight — I mean, just look at this shot of these cardinals smoking cigarettes together. And the concept of the girls fighting over the papacy is inherently kind of hilarious. Combine that with Isabella Rossellini as a nun and Stanley Tucci as a cardinal, and you’ve got a winning formula for a movie that gay people (me) are going to go crazy for. — James Factora
It’s been a strange year at the box office, but Universal is betting on a tried-and-true formula for Thanksgiving weekend: a big family-friendly movie with recognizable faces and familiar IP. Business considerations aside, the Wicked movie will be this fall’s gay Super Bowl, with Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Ariana Grande as Galinda, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, and Bowen Yang as Galinda’s friend Pfannee, among other faves. Expect lots of memes — and for the former theater kids in your life to become absolutely insufferable. — Samantha Allen
Amy Adams stars as an exhausted stay-at-home mom of a toddler, who just so happens to also turn into a dog sometimes. Yes, I’m a little bit over the nuclear family/domestic life as the ultimate source of terror in American horror movies, but Nightbitch at least seems like it has some fun with the concept, if the trailer is any indication. — James Factora
This marks Pedro Almodóvar’s full-length English language debut, and what a debut it looks like it’s going to be. Tilda Swinton stars as a hot butch war reporter named Martha, who reunites with her old friend Ingrid (Julianne Moore) “in an extreme but strangely sweet situation,” as the official description puts it. If you’re looking for further details, they absolutely cannot be gleaned from the teaser, which is a minute long and totally wordless. But the vibes, as they always are with Almodóvar, are immaculate.. — James Factora
An erotic thriller starring Nicole Kidman directed by Halina Reijn, who brought us Bodies Bodies Bodies? Say less. I’m particularly banking on a queer thriller revival in the latter half of this decade, but until then I will absolutely take Kidman as a girlboss cougar CEO engaging in an affair with a younger intern (Harris Dickinson). Plus Antonio Banderas is there as the She-E-O’s husband? Be still my bisexual beating heart. — James Factora
Director Robert Eggers is back with a remake of Nosferatu, one of the earliest and most influential horror films of all time. An ambitious undertaking — but if there’s anyone who could do it justice, it’s him. I am of the belief that vampires are inherently kind of fruity, but I also have a good feeling that this one will be at least a little gay, given the intense homoeroticism of Eggers’ The Lighthouse. Plus, Emma Corrin (The Crown) stars as Anna Harding. That’s compelling both because they’re nonbinary, and because that character name is used in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but not the 1922 Nosferatu. Whatever spin the director puts on this classic tale is sure to be a wild ride. — James Factora
TV Shows
It may seem unnecessary to put a 50-year-old household name on a fall culture preview. Of course SNL is coming back. That goes without saying. But what does need to be emphasized is the fact that Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan will be back-to-back musical guests on October 19 and November 2, respectively. Let’s go, lesbians! — Samantha Allen
I’ve been a Brian Jordan Alvarez stan since I first watched his Tumblr fave 2016 webseries, The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo, which remains one of the funniest and most singular shows I’ve ever watched. Eight years later, it’s incredibly rewarding to see what Alvarez is able to accomplish with a network TV budget — which is to say, a lot. English Teacher retains the lightning-fast pacing of Caleb Gallo (and the comedic talents of Stephanie Koenig) while expertly skewering the anti-LGBTQ+ moral panic that’s sweeping through seemingly every school in America. — James Factora
If the scene of Kathryn Hahn choking Aubrey Plaza didn’t already put you in a sapphic stranglehold, rest assured some very gay things seem bound to happen on the Disney+ WandaVision spinoff. We’ve been promised that it’s the “gayest” Marvel show ever made, which is a welcome development. As newly out Agatha All Along star Sasheer Zamata told us, the series can help “open up the door to a whole new fan base of people who maybe didn’t see themselves before in the Marvel Universe.” I have a less intellectual response, which is that I want Kathryn Hahn and Aubrey Plaza to make out. — Samantha Allen
The third season of Netflix’s beloved gay Gen Z love story is promising a more mature tone, with the couple at its core exploring sex, mental health struggles, and eating disorders as they approach university age. “I think it’s important not to patronize the characters,” star Joe Locke recently told Them. “They’re teenagers. It’s very normal and natural for them to be thinking about sex and that state of their relationships.” It will never stop being refreshing to see YA media so honestly exploring LGBTQ+ themes. — Samantha Allen
When we last left the staff of Abbott Elementary, Janine and Gregory had just beaten the will-they-won’t-they allegations, sharing a kiss in the final moments of season 3. Last season also saw the rest of the cast dealing with their own personal and job drama. Ava, Barbara, Jacob, and Melissa all worked their way through the issues preventing their growth as people (but making them delightful characters). In short, we are set up for a fourth season full of even more character development and workplace shenanigans. I personally am thrilled that Abbott weathered the storms of the WGA strike to get renewed again because I need to know what TV’s gentlest comedy has in store for this ensemble. — Sally Tamarkin
In an era when most new shows typically get the ax after one or two seasons at most, I consider it a small miracle that FX’s (very queer) vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows has made it all the way to a sixth and final outing. This season will reportedly focus on Harvey Guillén’s former familiar Guillermo “reevaluating his life,” per the official description, but I am also hoping it delivers at least one more legendary instance of Matt Berry saying “New York City.” — Samantha Allen
Albums
Innovative producer/songwriter SOPHIE has left a lasting impression on modern pop music since her tragically premature death in 2021. Her sonic DNA is even evident on one of her protege’s latest releases: Charlie XCX’s summer-defining Brat. Her self-described “sculptural” sounds have inspired myriad artists, from the Y2K-coded Frost Children to hyperpop jesters 100 Gecs. SOPHIE always toed the line between experimental noise and pop genius, and to kick off fall, we have been blessed with a posthumous self-titled album that bridges both of those spheres. SOPHIE was completed with the aid of her longtime studio manager Benny Long and features guest singers like Kim Petras, Bibi Bourelly, and Hannah Diamond to name a few, and it’s a banger of a tribute — a eulogy you can dance to. — Juan Velasquez
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I personally love Lady Gaga’s acting career. Her role in House of Gucci in particular was camp gold, and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to falling in love with Ally in A Star Is Born. Luckily Gaga is back in theaters portraying Harley Quinn alongside Joaquin Phoenix in Joker: Folie à Deux. Her surprise stopgap album Harlequin (teased as “LG 6.5”) serves as a companion piece to the film and features several covers: “World on a String,” “If My Friends Could See Me Now,” and “Get Happy (2024).” And if this album doesn’t scratch your Gaga itch, she is also dropping Joker: Folie à Deux (Music From the Motion Picture) paired with the film’s release on Oct 4. — Juan Velasquez
Michael Love Michael’s new album Bruiser, due out Oct 4 via queer label Get Better Records, is a bold follow-up to 2022’s To Build Me a House. The Them contributor and pop experimentalist explores some dark themes, primarily the harms done to her and ways she has harmed others. The industrial-tinged “Deer” from her upcoming album describes the haunting experience of accidentally hitting and killing a deer shortly after getting her driver’s license as a teenager. The eerie video for the track offers a hint of what the full LP has in store. — Juan Velasquez
Alt R&B singer songwriter Sans Soucis has been on our radar since 2023’s joyful “Merchants.” The London-based artist has been on the rise since 2017 and they are finally releasing their debut album, Circumnavigating Georgia via Decca this fall. The soulful “Dancing on This” is Soucis’ ode to their chosen family which takes musical cues from the artists like Beyonce and Rihanna who they’ve stated: “helped me survive the most unfavorable environments.” The upbeat track is indelibly catchy with its bassy groove and Soucis’ rhythmic syncopated vocal delivery. Their upcoming album is not to be slept on. — Juan Velasquez
Sex Education star Dua Saleh is releasing their debut album I Should Call Them via Ghostly this October. The Sudanese-American musician recently dropped some singles off the sexy R&B-tinged LP. “Unruly,” their collaboration with hip-hop/R&B singer Serpentwithfeet, is an interstellar groove with Latin flair while “Pussy Suicide,” (my bid for song title of the year) is a somber trap track about romance and toxicity. I Should Call Them picks up where their 2022 EP, CROSSOVER, left off, diving into a more serious and experimental sound for the ever-evolving, genre hopping artist. — Juan Velasquez
Nashville indie rock singer-songwriter Sophie Allison a.k.a. Soccer Mommy is dropping her fourth studio album Evergreen this fall. New single “M” is the perfect cozy autumn track, something the crazy kids of Dawson’s Creek might brood to, while “Lost” is a lush acoustic number with an anthemic crescendo at its end. The 11-song album, out October 25 via Loma Vista Recordings, will no doubt serve as the soundtrack to crisp walks among falling leaves for sensi-queers everywhere. — Juan Velasquez
Books
A new novel from one of the most exciting names in queer horror, Rivers Solomon’s Model Home promises to be “a new kind of haunted-house novel.” Set in a gated community outside of Dallas, where the Maxwells were the lone Black family, the book follows three adult siblings who return home to deal with the aftermath of their parents’ passing. An early Booklist review called this book “wholly original and unforgettable,” and I can’t wait to be haunted by it. — Samantha Allen
According to the Movement Advancement Project, roughly half of U.S. states, primarily concentrated in the American South, now have laws restricting the right of transgender youth to access gender-affirming care and participate in school sports. In this deeply humanizing and thoroughly researched book of reportage, former Them news editor Nico Lang visits families across the country who are grappling with this political climate, showing that trans kids are, at the end of the day, just kids. — Samantha Allen
Mark Hyatt was a working-class British writer of fiction and poetry who died in 1972 at the age of 32. Love, Leda is his only known novel, and it was published in full for the first time in the U.K. just last year. It’s particularly remarkable for having been written at a time when homosexuality was still criminalized in the U.K. Publisher Nightboat Books calls it “an important document of queer working-class life” in a version of London’s Soho that no longer exists. — James Factora
The first edition of this groundbreaking nonfiction anthology was published in 2015, featuring the stories of various adult film performers revealing their career paths to their loved ones. It’s been less than a decade since then, but the landscape of online sex work has transformed dramatically, from the OnlyFans revolution to the devastating passage of SESTA-FOSTA to the terrifying rise of AI and deepfakes. A second edition, with new essays that cover all of the above, couldn’t be better timed. — James Factora
This collection from poet Ruben Quesada deftly skates between grief and lust, connected by the thread of longing, often within the same poem. The first sentence in the first poem is “My mother is going to die;” by the end, it has transformed into the story of the poet discovering a lover for the first time. Brutal Companion’s depiction of gay life refuses self-censorship and sanitization, from pillow talk about anonymous sex on heroin to lines about the brutal killing of Matthew Shepard. — James Factora
The disco revival of the 2020s might be fading slowly, but it’s always a good time to learn about the history of the genre that began as a Black and Latinx queer subculture. Disco provides both a look into the past, through archival photographs and interviews with luminaries like Donna Summer, and an analysis of the genre’s influence on pop culture over the decades. — James Factora
Women’s Hotel, set in 1960s New York, follows the daily lives of the residents of the Beidermeier. Based on the real-life Barbizon Hotel, which was a “women’s-only” establishment from 1927 until Valentine’s Day 1981, this marks Daniel M. Lavery’s debut novel. That’s almost difficult to believe, considering his sheer output over the years between The Toast, his three prior books, and his Substack — but here it is at last. — James Factora
Divided into four sections, for the four countries in which Neal has lived, My Pisces Heart follows author Jennifer Neal’s search for a place to call home. This is both a gorgeously written memoir of a life well-traveled, and a deeply researched inquiry into the ways that race, gender, sexuality, and history inform one’s ability to move about the world at all. — James Factora
Being queer in a small, conservative mountain town feels like a horror story (to me) in and of itself. But that’s only the beginning of the terrors awaiting Angelina Sicco, a lifelong resident of the town of Cadenze, who has a fateful encounter with “the sternly handsome Jagvi,” per the book’s description. This is the second novel from wife-and-wife duo Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta, which honestly, would be compelling enough to convince me to pick up a copy in and of itself. — James Factora
Chappell Roan’s show-stopping Video Music Awards look revealed a real appetite for lesbian knights. Look no further than All the Painted Stars, a queer historical romance about a young woman who disguises herself as a knight and enters a tournament to compete for her best friend’s hand in marriage. To that, I can only say: good luck, babe! — Samantha Allen
This wildly impressive feat of research outlines a Black, queer history of art and design, dating all the way back to the 19th century. The book also represents author and graphic designer Jon Key’s effort to situate himself in the history of American visual culture, from which Black queer contributions have too often been erased. — James Factora
I mean, it’s exactly what it says on the tin. At 432 pages, this is also only the first installment of the legendary performer’s life story, and who knows how many books there are to come? Now, if only her memoir was written in the exact same style as Cher’s incredible tweets — a girl can dream. — James Factora
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