The start of “Faking It” season two will explain Lauren’s mysterious pill popping and television has never explored this upcoming plot line.
The MTV series will reveal the character played by Bailey De Young has been taking hormones because she was born intersex, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The pills balance out her Androgen Insensitive Sydrome, a type of intersex condition that makes a person genetically male but develops female characteristics.
About one in 2,000 people are born with intersex traits, according to the Intersex Society of North America. The statistic for Androgen Insensitive Syndrome is one in 13,000 births.
“Faking It” creator Carter Covington pitched the idea to MTV before the show started. The first season dropped hints throughout the first eight episodes about the upcoming plot line.
“[MTV] knew about the storyline early on, but it wasn’t until I pitched these 10 episode that I went in nervous. MTV’s Susanne Daniels was very excited about it,” Covington told The Hollywood Reporter. “I was expecting a battle with the network, but she 100 percent embraced it. People want to create TV that touches people and that shows a different subset.”
Young also embraced the storyline. She interviewed girls who were really born intersex to better understand her character Lauren. Her situation won’t only affect her this season, but for the rest of the series.
“For Lauren, being born intersex is going to be something she’s going to struggle to accept and then struggle to defend in her life,” Covington said. “Lauren is going to go on a series-long journey to get to a point where she’s proud of who she is.”
Covington and show connected with Advocates for Informed Choices to learn more about the life of intersex people. They brought aboard the group’s Kimberly Zieselman to consult and educate the writers how to develop Lauren’s character.
“It’s a story I’ve never heard told before, and our show is all about showing the diversity of experiences that young people are faced with today,” Covington said.
“Faking It” returns for its second season on Tuesday, Sept. 23 at 10:30 p.m. on MTV.
