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’80s London Grapples With AIDS Crisis in Emotional New “It’s a Sin” Trailer

"Do you seriously think there's an illness that only affects gay men? I don't believe it."

Could this generation’s Queer as Folk be right around the corner?

Back in 2018, Russell T. Davies, creator of Showtime's beloved queer television series, announced he was working on a new show tackling gay life. Originally titled The Boys, the five-part drama follows three young men — Ritchie, Roscoe, and Colin — after they move to London in the early ’80s at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.

The series underwent a few name-changes thanks to Amazon’s 2019 superhero series with the same title. First, it was retitled Boys; finally, the team settled on It’s A Sin.

Channel 4

As NewNowNext previously reported, out Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander stars as 18-year-old Ritchie. A series teaser dropped back in October, but now we're getting the first full trailer for the drama, which is set to premiere on Channel 4 in the U.K. and HBO Max in the U.S.

The official synopsis for It’s A Sin reads:

It’s 1981, the start of a new decade and Ritchie (Olly Alexander), Roscoe (Omari Douglas) and Colin (Callum Scott Howells) begin a new life in London. Strangers at first, these young gay lads, and their best friend Jill (Years and Years’ Lydia West), find themselves thrown together, and soon share each other’s adventures. But a new virus is on the rise, and soon their lives will be tested in ways they never imagined. As the decade passes, and they grow up in the shadow of AIDS, they’re determined to live and love more fiercely than ever.

"There are boys dying all over the world," says Jill in the preview. "But nobody knows anything."

Ritchie, in denial, replies, "Do you seriously think there's an illness that only affects gay men? I don't believe it."

The cast of It’s A Sin also includes Neil Patrick Harris, Keeley Hawes, Stephen Fry, Tracy Ann Oberman, Shaun Dooley, Lydia West, and Nathaniel Ash.

“I feel like the luckiest boy in the world to be a part of this project,” Alexander, 30, wrote on social media when his casting was announced, adding that he’s been a fan of Davies since watching Queer as Folk “in secret” as a teen. “His work helped shape my identity as a gay person so I’m absolutely over the moon we’ll be working together.”

Watch the emotional trailer below, and be on the lookout for It's A Sin when it hits HBO Max in early 2021.

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