'Dead of Summer' stars Elizabeth Mitchell, Mark Indelicato, and Zelda Williams attend 2016 ABC Freeform Upfront at Spring Studios on April 7, 2016 in New York City. (Photo : Getty Images/Theo Wargo)
Zelda Williams is worried that her "Dead of Summer" character Drew Reeves may not correctly represent the transgender community. The daughter of the late Robin Williams plays an enigmatic counselor, who is a transgender man, in the new Freeform horror drama series.
"The thing I'm most terrified about is the transgender community being insulted by him," Zelda said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly referring to her "Dead of Summer" character. However, she added that it is great that the public will get to learn about a male-identifying transgender character as a lead in an ensemble show considering that transgender men are not reflected onscreen as frequently as transgender women.
For the role, Zelda did a research by speaking with transgender men. She pointed out that the transgender community deserves an honest portrayal.
According to Zelda, Drew is for the transgender community more than anything. The actress, who is openly bisexual, said she hopes the members of the community are happy with her "Dead of Summer" character because she is proud of him and she is very excited for people to see who he is.
On the big screen, it appears that Zelda is not starring in a feature film anytime soon. The last film that featured her was Brett Allen Smith's drama film "Never," which was released on March 6, 2014.
In 2014, Zelda appeared in "Teen Wolf" Season 3, in which she played a guest character named Caitlin. She also voiced the character Kuvira in "The Legend of Korra."
This means that Drew is the first TV role Zelda played in almost two years. Among her co-stars in "Dead of Summer" are Amber Coney, Elizabeth Mitchell, Elizabeth Lail, Mark Indelicato, Ronen Rubinstein, Zachary Gordon, Eli Goree, Alberto Frezz and Paulina Singer.
In an interview with Ksite TV, Coney said that it is amazing to join the Freeform family and she could not be happier with both the network and the series. She starred in "Class" in 2015 before joining the cast of "Dead of Summer," which was created by Ian Goldberg, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz.
Watch a clip from episode 3 titled "Mix Tape" here:
