Netflix Releases Trailer for ‘Special’

Netflix’s new show Special will highlight the highs and lows of being gay and disabled.

The semi-autobiographical series will be based on Ryan O’Connell’s memoir, I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves, with O’Connell serving as creator, producer, and star of the show. We will follow O’Connell’s journey as a gay man living with cerebral palsy (a disability that he is not entirely open about).

According to the synopsis, the show will focus on, “many of O’Connell’s real-life ups and downs growing up gay and disabled with cerebral palsy. When the rude curveball known as ‘his twenties’ happened, he was determined to take his life from bleak to chic and embrace everything that makes him exactly who he is. Why be normal when you can be…Special?”

O’Connell leads the cast as Ryan Kayes, with Jessica Hecht as his mother Karen Kayes, Punam Patel as Ryan’s co-worker and friend Kim Laghari, Marla Mindelle as Ryan’s intern supervisor Olivia, Augustus Prew as Carey, Jason Michael Snow as Keaton, and Patrick Fabian as Karen’s neighbor and love interest Phil. Jim Parsons of “Big Bang Theory” fame is onboard as an executive producer.

Watch the official trailer below.

Special will be released on Netflix on April 12.