In the upcoming “Roseanne” reboot, Darlene’s son Mark, played by Ames McNamara, likes to wear dresses. But executive producer and star Sara Gilbert says the character is not a transgender character — he’s just a little boy.
“He’s not a transgender character. He’s a little boy,” Gilbert told Entertainment Weekly. “He’s based on a few kids in my life that are boys who dress in more traditionally feminine clothing. He’s too young to be gay and he doesn’t identify as transgender, but he just likes wearing that kind of clothing and that’s where he is at this point in his life.”
Gilbert said that his interest to dress in girl clothes is addressed in multiple episodes but one episode in particular focuses on it more “heavily.”
“We did a lot of research because we wanted to make sure and do it properly,” said Gilbert. “This character is not transgender.”
Gilbert wanted to create this character because she believes it “represents the world” as part of a show that’s always done exactly that.
“We can do it through the dynamics of the family,” she added. “I know kids like that and it seemed like a great character. One kid in particular that I know is so sweet, funny, charming, and great. In a way the character– that’s one element of the character that he dresses that way, but he’s also based on this kid I know in a lot of other ways. I don’t want to pigeonhole him and say just because he dresses this way that’s the only thing about him. He happens to dress that way but he’s an amazing, creative, brilliant kid, which you will see, and so is the kid, Ames, who plays him.”
The nine-episode revival, starring Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf and Michael Fishman premieres on March 27.