In the time since it initially debuted, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power has become an inspirational and beloved series for fans of all ages. The series’ LGBT representation has earned a deserved amount of that praise, including a nomination at the GLADD Media Awards. Going into She-Ra‘s fourth season, the show is set to expand that representation in a new way. On Monday, DreamWorks Animation Television announced that gender-nonconforming writer, producer, and performer Jacob Tobia will be joining the cast of Season 4.
Tobia will voice Double Trouble, a non-binary shape-shifting mercenary from the Crimson Waste, who joins forces with Catra and the Horde. Able to magically transform themselves into any person they see, Double Trouble has the soul of a thespian, spending hours in “character study” trying to perfectly mimic their target, and always looking for feedback on their “performance” – just don’t ever give them a negative critique.
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Tobia’s writing has been featured in The Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, The New York Times, The Guardian, and Time Magazine. They recently published their first memoir, which is titled Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story.
“Fantasy has always been so vital to me because as a non-binary person, it’s a way of escaping the confines of the world we live in,” Tobia said in an Instagram video, which you can check out above. “It’s the way of building other realities and imagining the world as it could be, not as it is.”
“Having non-binary representation in animated shows for young folks is just so vital because young people today are already understanding that gender is diverse and a broad spectrum from a super early age.” they added. “It’s about time that the shows that we’re making for young people reflect the world as they understand it.”
Tobia will join a cast that includes Aimee Carrero (Young and Hungry) as Adora/She-Ra, Karen Fukuhara (The Boys) as Glimmer, AJ Michalka (The Goldbergs) as Catra, Marcus Scribner (black-ish) as Bow, and Lauren Ash (Superstore) as Scorpia.
“I mean it’s amazing,” series creator Noelle Stevenson told ComicBook.com of the series’ reception. “It’s been amazing seeing the feedback and enthusiasm. I think that it’s been really nice especially to see people picking up what we set out to do and appreciating it and seeing that it was hitting in the way that we hoped it would. That’s very rewarding to see. Yeah, I mean I think we took a risk. We made some changes that were a little bit risky, and it was very validating to see people respond to that with positivity.”
Season 4 of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power will be released on Netflix on November 5th.
(Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)
