Sweet Magnolias star Chris Medlin says Serenity is ready for a big gay wedding

This story originally appeared on Out.

Chris Medlin grew up in a small town in Tennessee, so when he says Serenity, the fictional South Carolina town Sweet Magnolias is set in, represents something real, he means it.

"I think Serenity represents what every town could and should be," Medlin tells Out. "What I think this show does really well is have all of these diverse perspectives, have all of these varying walks of life, and not having any of their stories be about that exact thing that makes them different. Whether it’s sexuality or race or relationship status, it’s just understood by the town, and, through them, the show."

That's a quiet kind of radical. Sweet Magnolias doesn't announce Isaac's queerness as the subject. It just lets him exist fully in a town that loves him. For Medlin, that's the whole point.

Chris Medlin as Isaac Downey on 'Sweet Magnolias.' Courtesy of Netflix

He's been playing Isaac since 2019, after a stint in Mean Girls on Broadway, for his first TV gig. Season five finds Isaac more grounded than we've ever seen him, stepping into a managerial role at Sullivan's, six months into his relationship with Michael, and more certain of his place in Serenity than he's ever been.

Isaac came to town looking for the parents who gave him away as teenagers. "He shows up to town very uncertain of who he is and where his place in the world should be, and he finds it quite quickly in Serenity," Medlin says. "I do think finding it so quickly and being welcomed so warmly is a little unnerving for Isaac, and it makes him anxious."

That anxiety shows up in full force as Isaac spirals trying to plan the perfect romantic anniversary dinner for Michael. "It's very internally motivated," he says. "Isaac has done most of his life on the outskirts, on the outside, and hasn't had that sense of family that he's found in Serenity. Now that he has it, he is sharing every single thought that passes through his brain."

The anniversary dinner becomes the container for all of it: the coffee recipes, the gesture, the question of whether six months is being honored the right way. He's not worried about the relationship. He's still figuring out who he is in a life that finally has room for him.

Medlin, who has a Broadway background the show has been gradually weaving into the character, got to sing in the scene. He finished filming early in the morning, went back to his trailer, and cried. "It just felt like a perfect melding of so many worlds that I've existed in, and a big moment of trust for me as a performer," he says.

Chris Medlin and Kyle Findley on 'Sweet Magnolias' season 5.Courtesy of Netflix

Isaac is not a character in the original Cheryl Woods book series, which created an opportunity for the line between actor and character to blur in the best way. The gardening plot line came from the plants covering his apartment. The musical moments came from his stage background.

"I do remember reading the first scripts for the audition and I was like, I know who this is, I know this life, I've walked this life, there's some nuance there," he says. "He's adopted. I am from a single mother household. He's an only child. I'm an only child. There's enough to pull from. As the show has gone on, the team was like, oh, you have musical ability, you dance. They've even sprinkled in the fact that I love plants. There's so many plants around my apartment."

There is one area where the gap between them is literal. Medlin is from the South. Isaac isn't. "He almost does need to be less southern than I am at times," Medlin says. "That's a weird thing. I'm around, I'd say half of our cast is southern at heart, and being around that makes me want to be more southern, and then I have to dial it back, because I'm like, right, you didn't grow up in Serenity, you don't get to do this. Pull back a little bit, lessen the twang."

Then there is the friendship with Eric, which is its own kind of argument the show is making. The two met when Isaac suspected Eric might be his biological father. That suspicion became mentorship, and mentorship became brotherhood. In season five, Eric hands Isaac the recipe he has never trusted to anyone, a passing of the torch that lands differently because Eric has a strained relationship with his own brother. Isaac steps into that space.

"It's really special and nuanced the way the story encapsulates a straight man and gay man's friendship, but also a close friendship and brotherhood between two men of color," Medlin says. "To highlight that in a town like Serenity is really special." Sweet Magnolias doesn't editorialize about what that friendship means. It just shows two men who chose each other.

When Isaac's sexuality was confirmed on screen, Medlin says it's been all love. What has moved him most isn't the general response. It's the specific ones. "A lot of older parents have been reaching out saying you represent so much of, or all of, my child," he says. "That's been so special. Between the queer storyline and the adopted multiracial storyline, both get a lot of very loud, vocal, welcomed support."

Dion Johnstone, Chris Medlin, and Justin Bruening on 'Sweet Magnolias'Courtesy of Netflix

He also hears from queer people who recognize something specific in Isaac's story, the particular experience of coming into meaningful romantic relationships later than straight peers. "A lot of what queer people experience is finding more meaningful romantic relationships later in life. You don't get to do that in high school, you get to do it in your early, mid twenties. That's when Isaac's actually getting to do this. He's hitting the six month mark with Michael. It's been all loving, it's been so supportive, honestly."

Going into a potential season six Medlin has a wishlist for Isaac. More of a social world, since Isaac at twenty-five is spending most of his time with people fifteen years older than him or ten years younger. When the idea of a middle tier of Serenity's social world came up, Medlin was immediately on board. "Isaac will lead it," he says. "I will take the burden of being the main middle magnolia."

And maybe, finally, a gay bar somewhere in Serenity. "I would love expanding the social world of Isaac," he says. "Isaac, Noreen, and Jeremy are the three main characters that represent the twenties, and so I would love a little more of a closer in age social circle. Right now Isaac is twenty-five in this season and he is spending all of his time with people fifteen or twenty years older than him, or he's at work with people ten years younger than him. Maybe there's a gay bar in town, maybe there's something like that that we haven't seen yet."

Then there is the bigger question. Is Serenity ready for a big gay wedding? "I do," he says without hesitating. "I think Serenity is the perfect small town to kind of represent a catalyst of change. I'm from a small town myself, in the South, in Tennessee, and I think Serenity represents a lot of progress and growth and different perspectives and things. I think it's a perfect place for a big gay wedding."

After all, Sweet Magnolias loves a wedding.

Sweet Magnolias season 5 is now streaming on Netflix.