Can you imagine being an expert on love with a failing marriage? That’s the focus of the highly anticipated queer sitcom, Settle Down, which premiered earlier this week.
Queer & Now sat down with the creator and star of the series, Toronto-based actor and writer Alexander Nuñez, to get the inside scoop on the new show.
His queer anthem? “Sexy to Somebody,” by Clairo.
His queer icon? Canadian musician Peaches, whom he met in person last year.
“Peaches is about as cool in person, as you would think, and it was so intimidating. They’re lovely,” he told Queer & Now.
“They’re the nicest person ever, but you feel like a complete dweeb standing beside and talking to Peaches. But I’m hoping some of their coolness and bravery kind of rubbed off onto me that day.”
Nuñez is no stranger to the industry, getting his start on the Disney Channel at 17 years old. A talented writer and actor, he was nominated for a 2022 Canadian Screen Award, and a 2024 Writer’s Guild of Canada Award.
Nuñez has worked as a writer on the hit CBC series This Hour Has 22 Minutes and as a writer and actor on the network’s show Moonshine. Additionally, he currently plays Evan in the CBC series Small Achievable Goals.
SETTLE DOWN
Nuñez’s new series, Settle Down is a six-part series following the life of Mason, a relationship expert and podcast host who is an expert in all things love. Despite his expertise, in the pilot episode, the main character finds out that his husband, Jarod, is feeling pretty lonely in their marriage.
“Mason’s journey through the show is this fight between keeping his work life alive and well, as well as his marriage, you know, finding the balance between those two things,” Nuñez told Queer & Now.
Torontonians should also keep their eyes peeled for some familiar locations, as the series was filmed right here in the city.
“We filmed in various locations along the West End and East End. We wanted to try our best to make the show very Toronto-centric,” Nuñez shared. “Hopefully people can recognize some of their favorite areas as they watch the show.”
IMPORTANCE OF QUEER BIPOC REPRESENTATION
As a member of the queer community, Nuñez lamented the importance of highlighting queer representation, which is front and centre in this project.
“Queer representation, I think, is more important than ever right now. Because I think people forget that we all bleed red,” he explained. “We all go through different shades of the same problems in our own lives. We have meaningful loving relationships, just like everyone else, and they’re not without their problems.”
The creative explained that through the filming of the series, the team strived to highlight many different kinds of relationships. Nuñez wanted to give audiences a window into the lives of members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
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“Hopefully people who aren’t so familiar with the queer community can realize that they relate to us a lot more than they think.”
Nuñez, who is Chilean and Jamaican, explained that representation of queer people of colour is incredibly important, as we are often excluded from queer media.
“It’s complicated to be a person of colour, sometimes, within the queer community. I think that Black representation, POC representation in general, is often missed in a lot of queer media,” Nuñez explained. “I think we’re working hard to build equity in that space, but it is still very dominated by queer white culture. So yeah, it’s important to show people we exist, and we also have a right to have our stories told.”
Settle Down is now streaming on OUTtv and the OUTtv channels on Prime Video and AppleTV+.
