AUSTIN, Texas — (CultureMap) There’s a fabulous glimmer of hope for 'Queer Eye' fans who are clamoring for the Netflix show’s pandemic-delayed, Austin-based sixth season to show up on our screens.
Netflix, which airs the monster hit, confirms to CultureMap that casting agents once again are scouting the Austin area for people to make over. 'Queer Eye' calls these people “heroes.” The show’s five hosts transform each hero’s wardrobe, appearance, diet, living space and outlook.
“We can share … that casting efforts have resumed with the hope that production can restart down the line, but no timeline has been set,” a Netflix spokesperson tells CultureMap.
Bobby Berk, the show’s design expert, told the PureWow website that the "Queer Eye" crew will be back in Austin “at some point this year.”
To nominate someone for the Austin edition, send the person’s name, photos, and backstory to qecasting@itv.com.
Production of the Austin season of "Queer Eye" shut down in March because of the COVID-19 outbreak. In the ensuing weeks, three of the five hosts — Berk, Antoni Porowski, and Jonathan Van Ness — remained in Austin at least temporarily. The show’s Philadelphia-based fifth season debuted June 5.
Porowski appears to have made the most of his quarantine time in Austin. The "Queer Eye" food guru filmed a Netflix cooking show from his Austin digs with an assist from boyfriend Kevin Harrington, and he fostered Neon, a pitbull-beagle mix, from Austin Pets Alive!
Before production of the Austin season was halted, about 90 percent of the first episode was completed, Porowski told People TV. Porowski is now back home in New York City after an extended stay in Austin with Harrington; Neon has joined them.
Berk told PureWow that he’s eager to return to Austin.
“I can’t talk enough about how great Austin is,” Berk said. “Sadly, I was only there about a week and a half before the city got shut down, but it’s such a beautiful city. It’s so green. It’s such an outdoor city. It very much reminded me of LA.”
He also praised Austin’s “amazing” food scene.
“I’m originally from Texas — I’m from Houston — and this is no knock on Houston, even though it is a knock on Houston: Austin’s just the best city in Texas. It really is,” Berk said. “The last time I had been to Austin was 1998. And to say the city has changed would be an understatement.”
This story originally appeared in CultureMap.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: