15 Photos of The L Word’s premiere 20 years ago

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The L Word premiered 20 years ago today!

The iconic sapphic Showtime series brought a new level of visibility to lesbian and queer women never before seen on television. And while stories about around trans and bisexual identities have come a long way since the The L Word , the game-changing series laid a foundation for other shows — hello, Orange Is the New Black — to center stories of lesbians not only in romantic and sexual partnerships, but it was the first series to depict a friendships among queer women.

For six seasons (the reboot, The L Word: Generation Q, premiered in Dec. 2019 and ran for three seasons) the characters would be among the first queer women characters on TV to show the world that they were “Talking, laughing, loving, breathing, /Fighting, f*cking, crying, drinking.”

Scroll through to see throwback photos from The L Word's premiere from January 2004.

Original cast with producer Ilene Chaiken

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The original core cast of The L Word including Mia Kirshner (Jenny), Pam Grier (Kit), Jennifer Beals (Bette), Ilene Chaiken, Eric Mabius (Tim), Karina Lombard (Marina), Laurel Holloman (Tina), Erin Daniels (Dana), and Kate Moennig (Shane).

Jennifer Beals & Pam Grier

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Legends Jennifer Beals (Flashdance, Devil in a Blue Dress) and Pam Grier (Foxy Brown, Coffy, Jackie Brown) played sisters Bette and Kit Porter.

Leisha Hailey & Anne Archer

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The star of the indie queer film All Over Me and musician, Leisha Hailey, played the witty Alice. She’s pictured with Anne Archer (Fatal Attraction), who played her mother Lenore.

Mia Kirshner, Katherine Moennig, Erin Daniels, Laurel Holloman

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This quartet formed the core group of queer women who hung out at the fictional West Hollywood hot spot, The Planet.

Erin Daniels & Ilene Chaiken

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Erin Daniels, who played the adorable tennis pro, Dana, is pictured with the show’s creator, Ilene Chaiken.

Katherine Moennig

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It wasn’t long after Kate Moennig stepped into loveable lothario Shane’s boots that she became a favorite with queer women worldwide.

Leisha Hailey, Jennifer Beals, Pam Grier

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Hailey, Beals, and Grier were about to create indelible characters.

Karina Lombard

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Known best for Legends of the Fall before starring in season one of The L Word, Karina Lombard played the sexy owner of The Planet whose powers of seduction eventually made Mia Kirshner’s Jenny feel “utterly dismantled.”

Melissa Etheridge

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Rocker Melisa Etheridge joined the party. She was married to Tammy Lynn Michaels, who plays Shane’s spurned hook-up Lacey in the first season.

Laurel Holloman & Jennifer Beals

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Although Laurel Holloman (Tina) and Beals (Bette) may not have known it here, their characters’ epic love story would become queer couples canon. And as the reboot proved, Tibette was endgame.

Mia Kirshner

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Renowned in Canada at the time for her work in indie flicks like Atom Egoyan’s Exotica and Denys Arcand’s Love and Human Remains, Mia Kirshner played Jenny, the small-town girl who experiences a queer sexual awakening upon moving to Los Angeles to be with her eventual fiancé Tim (Eric Mabius).

Christian Slater

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The star of Heathers, True Romance, and Murder in the First showed his support.

Leisha Hailey

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At the start of The L Word, Hailey’s Alice was the group’s gadfly who worked for LA Magazine.

Jennifer Blanc

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Actress Jennifer Blanc helped ring in the dawn of queer women’s TV.

Laurel Holloman, Ilene Chaiken, Jennifer Beals

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Holloman, Chaiken, and Beals would continue Bette and Tina’s love story in Generation Q.