Everyone’s reminiscing on the gayest, messiest Disney Channel show

Disney has almost never delivered on canon queer representation — but the first time it did, it was part of one of the most chaotic shows the company ever made.

We’re talking, of course, about Andi Mack, a soap opera-esque series that ran on Disney Channel for three seasons from 2017 to 2019. A viral post on X, formerly Twitter, brought all eyes back to the show to reflect on its messy gay glory.

For starters, Andi Mack’s premise sounds straight out of Days of our Lives. Main character Andi’s world turns upside down when she learns that who she thought were her parents are actually her grandparents, and the woman she thought was her older sister is actually her mother, who became pregnant with her as a teenager. That’s a lot of lore for the pilot episode of a Disney show.

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Then there’s the plotline that got everybody talking: Andi’s friend Cryus’ coming out journey. In a multi-season arc, Cyrus discovered his queer identity, came out to his friends one by one, became the first ever Disney character to say the words “I’m gay,” and had an enemies-to-lovers romance with the school’s basketball star TJ, culminating in a mutual confession of feelings in the series finale.

Sadly, the show was canceled after its third season, so the budding relationship between TJ and Cyrus could never be fully explored. Truly, a great tragedy of the modern age! All the ingredients for an all-time great gay ship were there: a complicated backstory, chemistry between the actors, and swoon-worthy moments of teen romance — but alas, it never went beyond holding hands.

Joshua Rush, the actor who played Cyrus, even chimed in on the nostalgia party by praising Andi Mack’s writers.

Luke Mullen, who played TJ, also commented on the discourse. In reply to a post calling the show “messy,” he wrote, “And y’all ate it up every week don’t lie.”

And eat it up we did. Can we get a one-off reunion special showing Cyrus and TJ happily in love, please? It’s what the people deserve.

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