Netflix’s newest queer film Nimona has finally been given a release date and a fierce, fiery tease to go along with it.
The movie is based on The New York Times best-selling graphic novel by ND Stevenson, trans cartoonist and creator of queer icon She-Ra. It follows titular character Nimona who is a gender non-conforming shape-shifting hero helping disgraced knight Ballister Boldheart clear his name. The film is set in a tecnho-magical world where there are still knights but those knights have laser swords. Netflix states the film is “an epic tale about finding friendship in the most surprising situations and accepting yourself and others for who they are.” The film will stream globally on Netflix on June 30.
Not only is the main character genderqueer, but she will be voiced by out queer actress Chloë Grace Moretz. In addition, the cast includes the talented and queer vocal stylings of The Try Guys member Eugene Lee Yang, Frances Conroy of American Horror Story, Lorraine Toussaint, RuPaul Charles, Julio Torres, and Indya Moore. As if that isn’t gay enough, the film features a same-sex relationship between Ballister Boldheart and another knight. Swoon!
The film was started at Blue Sky Studios and bounced from producer to producer before landing at Netflix. The film was months from completion with Disney, but it was ultimately canceled. A Blue Sky employee told Business Insider that Disney “systematically censors queer content,” insinuating that the film was too queer for them.
The trailer shows off the beautifully vibrant cartoon style of the film and immediately showcases its punk rock aesthetics. It starts with a comic-book-style animation of your typical princess in a castle, but suddenly we see Nimona shapeshift from a tiny bird, to a dragon, to a shark, to a giant gorilla and destroy the castle. It cuts to show Nimona is the one doing the animation, and a montage of her shapeshifting in real life comes at you quickly after that. This movie looks like the punk fairy tale of our queer dreams.
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