ANGELICA ROSS As we were acting, I felt like everyone crying in the pews, and everyone that was just crying along, was crying because every single word felt like words you’ve heard before. And that everything Candy was saying to her parents was everything you wish you had the opportunity to say.

And so I was riding this wave of shared experience. I could feel it in the room. There were so many times where I had to excuse myself because I was trying to keep myself in ready mode.

When the parents came in [to the funeral home], I almost started crying, seeing them looking around the space. Because I just thought about my parents not knowing anything about the L.G.B.T.Q. community, nothing, especially back in the early ’90s. So all of this context was flying at me on set and it was just there to use. I didn’t rehearse any of those scenes.

JANET MOCK And it’s also full circle for our series too: We’re introduced to this world and the pilot through a black gay boy who’s kicked out of his home for standing in his truth. And that’s almost every single character’s story. So it’s a great healing for all of us and also for the series too, to have these two parents show up.

ROSS As a black trans woman, you don’t often get to hear folks express their love to you when you’re living. And so there were moments when I was laying in the casket and makeup had to come and touch me up because I was just crying, I was having this vicarious experience of laying in this casket, and hearing people saying these things.

Ryan and Janet, at what point did you know that the first death of a major character on the show would be the result of a violent act and not AIDS?