Dynasty Reboot: Gay Pandering, Catfights, Absolute Trash

When we first heard that the CW was rebooting the campy ’80s-era prime time soap opera Dynasty, we wondered whether it would feature all the obscene wealthy, backstabbing and over-the-top catfights that made the original so deliciously terrible. But now that we’ve seen the reboot’s trailer, we no longer have to wonder because it does feature all that and some pandering man-on-man action to boot.

The original series followed the drama surrounding the wealthy Carrington family of Denver as the family patriarch, Blake, decides to marry his secretary, Krystle. Though the show reveled Krystle’s battles with Blake’s first wife, Alexis, its entire first season showed Krystle sparring with Blake’s daughter, Fallon, and allying with Blake’s bisexual son Steven.
The reboot seems to follow this same trajectory; the only difference is that Fallon seems to have a thing for black guys (fetishizing?) and Steven’s sexual interest falls on Krystle’s nephew, Sammy Jo, a role that used to be played by Heather Locklear. The new gender-swapped Sammy Jo is played by Rafael de La Fuente, the Latino actor who played Jamal’s gay boyfriend in Empire).

In the original series, Steven’s male lover died near the end of season one. Considering that Locklear’s Sammy Jo stayed on the show for several years, it seems like the gay Sammy Jo character in the reboot may stick around a bit longer than he did in the original.
It’s also interesting to not that the reboot is being done by executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the creators of the CW’s popular Gossip Girl series. Accordingly, the new Dynasty seems geared towards younger female viewers with a protagonist who looks like she’s in her early 20s.
The reboot has also brought along Esther and Richard Shapiro, the pair who helped created the original Dynasty, but it’ll be interesting to see whether modern audiences really care for the catfights and trashy weddings of ultra-rich socialites.