The CW Breakdown 2015-2016

While not the deadliest network (that dubious honor falls to CBS), the lesbian/bi characters killed on the CW this season (5 out of 12 total*) had arguably the most impact on the fan community.

The CW features not one but two shows that have managed to kill off all of the queer women ever introduced: The Vampire Diaries and Supernatural. We have dubbed this “The Julie Plec” phenomenon, reserved for shows and writers so unaware of the “bury your gays” trope that they manage kill 100% of the characters they introduce.

The CW is also home to the show that offered us a textbook definition of “lesbian death trope”, after “the most insidious use of queerbaiting in a generation”. In killing Lexa, The 100 not only killed off one of the few positive lesbian representations on TV, but also left us with a bisexual lead whose sexuality will likely be forgotten, falling into an unfortunate trope of her own.

Although Arrow and Jane the Virgin averted the bury your gays trope after both Sara and Rose were resurrected (or in Rose’s case, revealed alive in disguise), we are still left with a lesbian character who never existed in the first place (Susanna, classified as dead for lack of a better category) and on Legends of Tomorrow, Sara has no regular/recurring love interest.

We looked at the 14 primetime scripted TV shows that aired on The CW between June 1, 2015, and May 31, 2016. To qualify, a character had to appear in more than 1 episode.

*Although Freya Mikaelson (The Originals) appeared in the 2015-2016 season, she was only revealed bisexual in the 2016-2017 season. Alex Danvers (Supergirl) also came out as a lesbian in the 2016-2017 season, and Supergirl aired on CBS before moving to The CW.

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Sara Lance, Legends of Tomorrow

Nyssa al Ghul, Arrow

Clarke Griffin, The 100

Luisa Alver, Jane the Virgin

Rose, Jane the Virgin

Lexa, The 100

Freya Mikaelson, The Originals

Jenna Nickerson, Supernatural

Mary Louise, The Vampire Diaries

Nora, The Vampire Diaries

Alex Danvers, Supergirl

Susanna Barnett, Jane the Virgin

Niylah, The 100

Maya, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

The Vampire Diaries

Season 7 (22 episodes, renewed)

Mary Louise (Teressa Liane), lesbian, recurring ( 15 episodes).
Nora Hildegard (Scarlett Byrne), lesbian, recurring (17 episodes). Nora and Mary Louise were members of the Heretics, a group of vampire/witch hybrids. They were together for decades and were portrayed as slightly sadistic at first, but protective of each other. In episode 7×16, shortly after getting engaged, they sacrifice themselves and die in a car explosion. Following the two deaths, Julie Plec has released a statement that she and the writers were unfamiliar with the “dead lesbian trope”, however the show has a history of killing off queer women in earlier seasons:
Nadia, bisexual, 13 episodes, dead (killed off in Season 5). Cause of death: murder by werewolf venom
Isobel, bisexual, 6 episodes, dead (killed off in Season 2). Cause of death: suicide. Isobel’s sexuality is debatable because it wasn’t overtly shown, rather heavily implied due to her using both a female and male stripper.

The 100

Season 3 (16 episodes, renewed)

Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor), bisexual, 37 episodes, show lead. Clarke was revealed bisexual in 2×14 when she kisses Lexa (Alycia Debnam Carey). Has a one night stand with a woman in 3×01 (Niylah) before being reunited with Lexa in 3×02. Clarke and Lexa reconcile and have sex in 307, right before Lexa is killed off.
Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey), lesbian, 16 episodes. Lexa is introduced in 2×06 as the Commander of the grounders. It is revealed that she is a lesbian in 2×09 when she mentions a female ex-lover (dead). Lexa kisses Clarke in 2×14 and an episode later betrays her. She comes back to the show in Season 3 only to be killed off by a stray bullet 64 seconds after her sex scene with Clarke in 3×07. Her “father figure” opposed her relationship with Clarke, attempted to kill Clarke and shot Lexa instead.
Niylah (Jessica Harmon), very minor character introduced in the season 3 premiere as a one night stand for Clarke. She appears in 3 episodes. Niylah gets badly beaten up after the lesbian sex scene, by someone hunting for Clarke, reinforcing negative tropes.

Jane the Virgin

Season 2 (22 episodes, renewed)

Rose (Bridget Regan), recurring cast. Rose was “killed off” (strangled by her step-mother) early in the season, but revealed alive in the season finale, averting the bury gays trope.
Dr. Luisa Alver (Yara Martinez), lesbian, recurring character. In love with Rose.
Susanna Barnett (Megan Ketch), lesbian, recurring character. Megan Ketch, the actress portraying her, has been cast as one of the leads in the CBS Summer Series American Gothic. In season finale it was revealed that Susanna was actually Rose in disguise and never existed (we have counted her among the dead characters, for lack of a better category)

Supernatural

Season 11 (23 episodes, renewed)

Jenna Nickerson (Laci J. Mailey), lesbian, dead. Got her soul sucked by a demon and then was killed by breaking her neck. Guest role, appeared in two episodes in season 11
Charlie Bradbury (Felicia Day), lesbian, guest star in Season 10, appeared in 7 episodes, dead. Cause of death: Stabbed by a Neo-Nazi who then dumped her body in a bathtub. Killed in season 10, episode 22 (13 May 15).

Arrow

Season 4 (23 episodes, renewed)

Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), bisexual, recurring character. Appeared in 4 episodes in Season 4, and 30 episodes over the course of the series. Sara was killed off in Season 3 and resurrected this year. Now she appears on Legends of Tomorrow.
Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law), lesbian, appears in 4 episodes in Season 4, alive. Nyssa is Sara’s ex-lover, forced by her father to marry Oliver, whilst still in mourning. She was part of the recurring cast in Season 3, but in the current season, she only had a guest role and was not involved with the main plot.

Legends of Tomorrow

Season 1 (16 episodes, renewed)

Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), bisexual, appears in all 16 episodes, main cast.
Nurse Lindsay Carlisle (Ali Liebert; guest star, 1 episode) lesbian character that shares a kiss with Lance.

Reign

Season 3 (18 episodes, renewed) – no lesbian/bisexual characters in the 2015-2016 season

In the first season of Reign, all the lesbian sex was by order of the king, for his enjoyment. In season 2, we saw 2 other lesbian sex scenes between background characters. To date, Reign has no lesbian or bisexual female characters on the show.

No lesbian / bi female characters:

Crazy Ex Girlfriend, The Originals, iZombie, The Flash, Beauty and the Beast, Significant Mother(cancelled), Containment(cancelled)

Tags: LGBT Fans, Stats