for audiences who grew up with the original, which aired from 1984 to 1988. But with the once-child stars now playing adult versions of their characters, the show’s creators have incorporated modern themes alongside the nostalgia.
I grew up a biracial kid in Birmingham, Alabama, so I stood out just walking down the street and I hated it. So in order not to stand out, I was very by the book and really into rules and restrictions ― I was a real Cherie, a real rule follower. Within the LGBTQ community, chosen family is a huge theme in the way we live our lives, the way we create the group of people we surround ourselves with. The original “Punky” showed that families could be whoever makes you feel supported, wherever you find the love. Now that we’ve come back to the show a few decades later, we’ve incorporated queer people..], are no longer together, but they’re still friends and are co-parenting.
I can’t imagine having gotten to this place without having experienced everything that I did, for good or bad. It’s interesting to be an adult and look back and say, “Oh, that wasn’t great” or “That wasn’t healthy.” When you’re a kid, you’re just trying to survive it. You don’t really think about how traumatizing or scary something might be until you’re an adult, but I don’t feel those things anymore.
I recently came to the decision that I don’t want to play a police officer, because I don’t support the narrative that the police force can be a force for good. I think there are good people who are police officers [but] they are unable to change the way the institution works single-handedly.