After Casey McQuiston's best-selling book Red, White & Royal Blue was released in 2019, the LGBTQ+ romance quickly became a deeply personal and significant love story for its legion of fans. Now, in 2023, the film adaptation was released on Amazon Prime Video and reaffirmed the love fans have for Alex and Henry all over again. The vitality of the romantic comedy's love story can't be overstated, as it's the rare rom-com to make sure bisexuality has a voice and representation. Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine took great care in their exceptional and fiery performances as “Firstprince,“ a pairing that holds such a dominant and powerful place in so many hearts worldwide.
- Reed Gaudens
Netflix Life Editor
Why we needed this fandom this year
It’s an unfortunate truth that our world still has a lot of work to do when it comes to acceptance and equality for the LGBTQ+ community, which makes movies that provide queer representation all the more necessary. Casey McQuiston’s cherished best-selling debut novel Red, White & Royal Blue came to life with the 2023 film adaptation on Amazon Prime Video. The response to the movie was an overwhelming eruption of adoration, especially from the Firstprince fans who had been waiting to watch Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine bring the characters from the page to dazzling color on screen. In a time that’s still so volatile for LGBTQ+ rights around the world, any movie that portrays queer love with care and without tragedy is deeply needed.
What emotion defined this fandom this year?
Overall, any RWRB fan will tell you that the movie brought incredible amounts of joy to their lives this year. Even though Perez and Galitzine could not promote or talk about the movie during its release, their fans showed up and made it one of Prime Video’s most-watched romantic comedy releases ever, becoming the No. 1 movie on the platform in its opening weekend and causing a boost in new subscribers to the streamer. (History, huh?!) Since its release, fans have been rewatching the movie and picking up on new meanings within the scenes, as well as forcing Prime Video’s hand in releasing deleted scenes. What can I say, when something makes you as happy as Red, White & Royal Blue has for its fans, you just want even more of it, as much as you can get.