Jennifer Beals And Katherine Moennig Discuss 'The L Word: Generation Q'

The "L" word is back. SHOWTIME's hit series is back with an all-new series called The L Word: Generation Q, which premieres this Sunday night, December 8th, at 10 PM ET/PT. Ten years after we last left them, we now find Bette (Jennifer Bearls) running for mayor of Los Angeles; Shane (Katherine Moennig) as she returns to the city after a setback; and Alice (Leisha Hailey) learning to balance co-parenting with her fiancée Nat (guest star Stephanie Allynne) and Nat's ex-wife Gigi (Sepideh Moafi) and the rising success of her talk show. We meet PR exec Dani Núñez (Arienne Mandi), her girlfriend and TV producer Sophie Suarez (Rosanny Zayas), their best friend and roommate Micah Lee (Leo Sheng), and the charming former Olympic swimmer-turned-assistant, (Sarah) Finley (Jacqueline Toboni).

CBS Local's Matt Weiss spoke to the stars and executive producers of both the original and new series, Beals and Moennig to discuss bringing in a new era of the show, what it was like returning to their familiar roles and what's to come for Bette and Shane.

MW: Good morning, Jennifer, Katherine, how are you both doing today?

JB: All's good here!

KM: Doing well!

MW: S we're here to talk to about The L Word: Generation Q, both of you were part of the original series 10 years ago. What does it mean to each of you to bring back the series back today?

KM: Oh I get to work with my family again.

JB: It's like a home coming

KM: Yes, very selfishly I get to work with [Jennifer] and Alicia and that's just like coming home.

MW: And Jennifer, your character is running for the mayor of LA when we kick things off here, where is Bette at right now?

JB: Well as you said, she's running for mayor. In the last two years she's had some really challenging circumstances. She's also parenting a teenager which is really interesting for someone who is incredibly consoling.

MW: Already running for office in LA, might as well throw a teenager in the mix to make it as complicated as possible, right?

JB: Right, exactly (laughs).

MW: Katherine, your character Shane is coming back to LA after some setbacks in the past few years, what has Shane been through, and where are we going to see her pick up?

KM: She's been out of town for quite a while, she has to come back with some heavy baggage that I don't think she's has been able to really emotionally understand or take care of. These circumstances she's in actually have high stakes, we learn that… I don't think I can say.

JB: Yeah not yet.

KM: It's not something I can talk about yet, unfortunately, but it's something that has higher stakes then just regular old girlfriend and we get to see her navigate her around that.

MW: Very excited to see how everything unfolds for her. You were both original cast members, but we've got a lot of new faces on this series as well. What are the new faces bringing to the series and what's it been like bringing in new people to something that's already been established?

JB: First of all, the new cast is so delicious.

KM: They're lovely!

JB: They're lovely. They're really sweet people. They're very, very talented and incredibly brave. One of the things I love about having the new cast is you get to see them experience all kinds of firsts. Their lens on the world is slightly different because they're younger and they're experiencing a lot of things for the first time, I think that's fun to watch.

They're also part of this new generation that refuses to have anybody categorize them and they take it upon themselves to tell you who they are and tell you how they want to identify. So I think that's a really interesting conversation to be have right now.

MW: Absolutely. Last question before I let you go, what are you most excited about, each of you, for the viewers to take away from this new version of The L Word?

KM: I hope they enjoy it like they did the original and just to be open minded with it, have a good time and let it take you on a ride.

JB: And the "L" is still love.

MW: Well thank you both so much and all the best with the new series!

JB & KM: Thanks!

Tune into SHOWTIME this Sunday, December 8th, at 10 PM ET/PT for the series premiere of The L Word: Generation Q. Check your local listings for more information.