Shawna is the exact opposite of her mother—effortlessly cool and the definition of sexually liberated. (She’s much more the player her father used to be.) Though the older generation is key to this new chapter in Tales of the City, Page’s Shawna slides magnetically into the center of the narrative bridging the gap between the original characters and the hip, new residents of Barbary Lane. Shawna’s blossoming relationship with Claire is especially nuanced. Morelli says of Page, an L.G.B.T. rights activist as well as a performer: “Shawna’s being brought to life by such a gifted woman, who also happens to hold the queer community at the center of her own personal life, it just doesn’t get better.”

TALES OF THE CITY Alison Cohn Rosa/Netflix

Jake Rodriguez (Garcia) and Margot Park (May Hong)

The new residents of Barbary Lane push the boundaries on sexual diversity and gender identity far beyond anything Maupin likely could have dreamed up in the late 1970s. Garcia, a non-binary newcomer to the acting scene, stars as Jake a young trans man whose transition puts a strain on his loving relationship with Margot played by High Maintenance’s May Hong. Maupin who serves as an executive producer on the project worked collaboratively with Morelli on this new version of Tales of the City. But what’s also true is that Morelli’s Barbary Lane more closely reflects the actual racial diversity of the city. Jake is Maupin’s book creation, but Morelli’s writers changed his surname from Greenleaf to Rodriguez. Meanwhile Hong—alongside Christopher Larkin and Ashley Park who play social-media-obsessed twins who live on the top floor of Barbary Lane—add much-needed Asian representation to a show set in San Francisco. “If we were going to do this,” Morelli says, “it needed to usher in a new generation of characters and then, hopefully, a younger audience. We know how starved the younger, queer community is for authentic representation. You want to create a world that looks like our world.”

TALES OF THE CITY Alison Cohen Rosa/Netflix

Ben Marshall (Charlie Barnett) and Michael Tolliver (Murray Bartlett)

Another character to get an update from the novels is Michael’s much younger boyfriend, Ben, played with irresistible sweet charm by Russian Doll star Charlie Barnett. (Ben is white in the books.) His was a role Morelli was particularly concerned with casting: “I think we all feel so protective of Michael, right? There’s such a warmth to the world that Armistead created and the empathy in the portrayal of queer characters. I think when Charlie walks into any room, all of those things are so immediately present in him. I think we sort of immediately trust that Michael’s O.K. in his hands, and that mattered.”

But longtime fans of the Tales of the City miniseries will recognize an even more important character in this photo: the iconic steps of the fictional Barbary Lane. (Actually Macondray Lane in San Francisco.) “Those are the moments where it gets very surreal,” Morelli says. “You’re shooting Michael Tolliver walking up the real steps in San Francisco with that view in the background. What you can’t see in that shot is down at the bottom of the steps there are like 50 to 100 residents gathered who have just come to watch our shoot—who are so [excited] to have us back. To see people who have grown up with these characters come back to see this happening.”

The series also addresses how much the city has changed since Maupin started his tale in the late 70s. Skyrocketing rent, the encroachment of the tech industry, and the choking traffic are all reality of the city that bumps up against the escapist Eden that Anna Madrigal has created in Barbary Lane. “We have a social responsibility,” Morelli says, “to highlight how much the city has changed and how unlivable it’s become.”

Nino Munoz / NETFLIX

Mary Ann (Laura Linney) and Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis)

But for all its social responsibility and earnest desire to present the bleeding edge of queer life in San Francisco, Tales of the City is, at its core, what it has always been: fun. Maupin’s column, books, and the subsequent TV adaptations have endured so long in part because he always knew just how to balance crazy, soapy twists with soft-hearted humanity of his characters. (Let’s just say one older installment imagines an alternate reality where Jim Jones survives the Jonestown massacre and makes a home in a Golden Gate Park shack.)

This new Tales of the City will draw inevitable comparisons to the gay-centric shows that followed in Maupin’s footsteps like Queer as Folk and another San Francisco-set story: Looking. But no one will mistake the new Tales of the City for the latter—which drew some critique for being perhaps too dry and low-key. “There’s always the sort of mystery element of Tales,” Morelli says and this new version is no exception. “When I read those books, I’m like, ‘Armistead, you were doing 100 things at once, and somehow making it work.’ This is the escape that I hope we all kind of deserve right now. The characters deserve it, we, as an audience, deserve it. Let’s just create a safe space where we can disappear an hour at a time.”