Why This Season of Transparent "Feels Like an Act of Resistance"

Amy Landecker tells me the fourth season of Transparent "feels incredibly vital." While Amazon's game-changing series has always carried this sort of importance with it, there's something different this time around. Landecker says this season is remarkably different when we catch up at the BAFTA TV Tea Party the day before The Emmys.

Suffice to say, the show has yielded a staggering amount of depth and insight into the transgender experience. We see Maura as she begins her public transformation, and we meet many other transgender women who educate her along the way. But this year, everything has changed. With the election of President Donald Trump, Landecker suggests, the very depiction of these transgender characters has suddenly become a political act. Landecker says this season will feature what she thinks is a historic first: we'll see a nude scene with transgender actress Alexandra Billings, who plays Maura's close friend and confidant, Davina. "This feels now like we're in a fight," she tells me. "The first three seasons, we were under a very welcoming administration . . . now, everything we do feels like an act of resistance."

The fourth season of Transparent premieres on Friday, Sept. 22. It arrives almost exactly eight months after the inauguration of Trump. In that short amount of time, the President has moved to ban transgender soldiers from the military and withdrawn protections for transgender youth. While it sounds like there won't be any direct commentary on Present Donald Trump in Transparent's new season, Landecker explains that the show is taking a political journey in its own unique way.

"We go to Israel. It's funny, we don't tackle the current political administration head on. No, we sort of do it more energetically and emotionally. It's kind of like everybody just feels like they don't know where they are or what's happening, so we really do just go on a big family trip." This rings true when it comes to Transparent's message from the very start. When it comes to overt, political messaging, Transparent defers to subtlety. The show has always been a visceral, deeply emotive look at the life and journey of one transgender person.

Landecker agrees, noting how depictions of transgender characters have leaned on antiquated tropes, but Maura is "fully three-dimensional" and trying to live her truth in the context of an average American family. "This is telling stories that prove that we're all the same, we all want love. We all want a roof over our heads and food in our mouths. And people we can actually relate to that. Everybody." And perhaps that's the best way to capture the message at the heart of the series. It's not about division or militant opposition. It's more about unity and togetherness. "People who are like-minded need a safe place to know they're not alone, and that's what the show's going to give them right now."

While it's clear we're going to dig even deeper into the minutiae of Maura's life, Landecker explains that the show is broadening its scope as well. In addition to the continuation of our journey with Maura Pfefferman, we're also going to see the history of Davina (Billings), which will give us another, more fully realized transgender narrative. "I'm really excited about this year," Landecker said. "I think it's going to be profound."