Freeform’s Gay Rom-Com Just Saved Valentine’s Day

Freeform is going to putting a little bit added love into the world this February! The network that's given us Pretty Little Liars, The Bold Type, and grown-ish will release its first Valentine's Day movie ever next year — a gay romantic comedy called The Thing About Harry.


As rom-coms wade into more diverse territory, it's incredibly apt that the film should nod toward the movie credited with launching the modern romantic comedy, When Harry Met Sally... in more ways than one. There's the obvious name repetition in Harry, this time to be played by Niko Terho and described as a "emotionally uncomplicated, promiscuous player," yearning for "love, family member, and stability," nevertheless with a pervasive commitment problem, TV Line reports.


And there's also a familiar beginning point: Harry and co-lead Sam (Jake Borelli), enemies of the jock versus out-and-proud variety since high school, are forced to drive with each other to their mutual companions Valentine's Day engagement party in Missouri. No indication on where they're driving from, however it sounds like they're in for a long, life-changing ride. As soon as "handsome, funny, neurotic, intelligent" Sam, with his "scathing wit" and "overly idealistic worldview," finds out that Harry has recently come out as gay, the two move from enemies to companions, and maybe even more.


Queer Eye's Karamo Brown, GLOW's Britt Baron, and The Fosters's Peter Paige will also star, with Paige taking the helm as well.


“It’s been a honor to partner with Freeform in making excellent television with LGBTQ+ characters as leads,” executive producers Paige, Greg Gugliotta and F.J. Denny mentioned in a statement released through Freeform. “True equality can only be achieved any time while you visualize yourself reflected in the movies, music and stories that paint our culture. As young gay males in the '90s, as a rom-com opened, we would watch the leading lady fall in love, and imagine what it could be like if the boy was saying all those things to another boy. We’ve habitually wanted to prepare a movie — a unabashedly romantic comedy — that queer gentlemen wouldn’t have to translate. It’s advantageous to take the genre to a new, all-inclusive level.”


For those keeping track, Freeform's TV movie joins two upcoming theatrical releases, one starring Billy Eichner and the other starring Kristen Stewart, set to add gay and lesbian stories to the genre. Eichner's film, which he is writing with Forgetting Sarah Marshall's Nicholas Stoller set to direct and Judd Apatow producing, hasn't nevertheless revealed a release date. Stewart's Happiest Season, a holiday romp co-starring Mackenzie Davis, directed by Clea DuVall, and written by DuVall and Mary Holland, is slated for a November 2020 release.


Freeform's flick is set to hit TV screens first, with a February 2020 premiere.