PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW FENNELL

Following on from the enormous success of Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper, Netflix is continuing to push the ‘queer teen romance’ genre forward with First Kill, albeit with a bit (a lot) more blood, gore and slayage – the literal kind. 

The series, created by Victoria Schwab and based on her short story of the same name, follows teenage bloodsucker Juliette (Sarah Catherine Hook) as she prepares to make her first kill to take her place among her powerful family of “Legacy” vampires. Her initiation becomes all the more complicated, however, when she develops feelings for the new girl in town, Calliope (Imani Lewis), who happens to come from a long lineage of monster hunters. (Think Heartstopper meets Buffy.)

Speaking with GAY TIMES, Imani – who rose to fame in television dramas such as Hightown and The Equalizer – praises First Kill for excluding elements of homophobia and its normalisation of the LGBTQ+ experience. “I think it’s important [for viewers to] see a story where queerness is not the point of conflict in this story,” she says. 

“The story is that they are supposed to kill each other, but they fall in love with each other. That’s the bigger problem here! I think that it’s important that we see these families where they normalise, accept and celebrate their child’s queerness. It’s not something that’s up for debate.” 

Here, we speak with Imani about the tumultuous first season of First Kill, why she resonates with Calliope’s ‘tenacity, discipline and diligence’ and her hopes for a potential season two.

How have you found the reception to First Kill so far?

Oh my god, it’s been so love-filled, it’s been so supportive. It’s just been the most wonderful response. I knew this show was awesome, but it just hits a little different seeing people that haven’t seen all that I’ve seen and to see them enjoy it! They tell me how represented they feel and how they wish this story was told sooner. It makes me feel so good and it was so worth it. I’m so honoured and I’m so happy.

It’s funny isn’t it, how in 2022, we’re still saying, ‘How have we not had this yet?’

Yeah, absolutely. It’s time to shine a light on these beautiful communities that influence our lives in ways people have no idea about. I knew it would be so important and that it’ll be done correctly. I’m just so happy that we had the opportunity to do it.

Imani, we have to talk about that ending. Twist after twist! I won’t lie, I had tears in mine eye when Calliope threatened Juliette.

Reading the script, me and Sarah Catherine were emotional messes! We were in the trailer like, ‘What is this show? What are we a part of? What do we do?’ I didn’t know what to do with myself. We were a mess. Like, how do you not cry when Talia cries? I’ve seen it and it still makes me cry. She’s like the mother of your dreams. She just loves and cares so deeply.

What originally drew you to the role of Calliope?

As soon as the audition came in, I saw that it was action and it was right up my alley. Selfishly as an actress, that was something I have been wanting, to check the box on the list of different roles and genres that I wanted to try as an actress. When I saw that she’s a young, Black teenager monster hunter from a lineage of monster hunters, and she falls in love with everything she’s trained to kill and taught to hate, how can I not want to be part of that? Once I realised how important it was, representation wise, and seeing just how diverse this cast is and all the different communities of people that the show would represent, I had to be a part of this.

Do you have a thing for vampires, because you also had a small bit in Vampires vs The Bronx?

Personally, I am not one for the scarier genres! I am not a big scary movie person, when it comes to vampires and stuff like that, but I grew up watching Blade religiously. I just took a liking to things like Blade where he’s more of a monster hunter but there’s a level of egalitarianism to it, like there is a measure of justice to what he does. It was so dope to see somebody that looked like me in the supernatural realm. I did grow up watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch, that was more my realm. The vampire stuff, it really scared me.