FX orders 'Pose' to series featuring the largest LGBTQ cast in TV history

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 12: Executive Producer and Director Ryan Murphy attends the New York premiere of "The Normal Heart" at Ziegfeld Theater on May 12, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Ben Gabbe/Getty Images) (2014 Getty Images)

The FX Network has officially ordered the scripted dance musical series “Pose” to series, featuring a cast with the most LGBTQ characters in history.

The series, set in New York City in the 1980s, amid the “luxury Trump-era universe” and other social and literary circles, will feature Evan Peters, Kate Mara, Billy Porter and James Van Der Beek alongside newcomers MJ Rodriguez, Indya Moore, Dominique Jackson, Hailie Sahar and Angelica Ross. According to Deadline, all of the newcomers will be playing transgender characters. This will give the show the largest transgender cast in ongoing roles for a scripted TV series ever.

Ryan Murphy, who has a long history with the network thanks to “American Horror Story” and “American Crime Story” will helm “Pose” as well.

“In the 15 years we’ve worked with Ryan, he has demonstrated time and again that every person's story is joyful, illuminating, and must to be told,” said FX CEO John Landgraf in a statement. “With Pose, Ryan, and his producing partners Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals, introduce us to a new group of characters whose talent, life force, and self-made community is greater than the daunting obstacles created by a society that can be threatened by their native identities.”

The cast was formed after an extensive six-month process that spanned the whole nation. Peters and Mara star as a New Jersey couple who get sucked into the world of 1980s New York City along with Van Der Beek, who plays Peter’s boss and financial support.

According to Entertainment Weekly, “Orphan Black” star Tatiana Maslany has exited her role on the series after it was reimagined just prior to its order from the network. Previously, she was cast as a modern dance teacher who develops a relationship with one of the characters. However, the role was reconceived as a 50-year-old African-American woman, who will be played by former “ER” and “Law & Order: SVU” star Charlayne Woodard.

The series is scheduled to premiere in the summer of 2018.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.