Anxiety Over Pork-Eating, LGBT Muslim Characters Is a Happy Problem to Finally Have

While I’m sure there will be no shortage of brown terrorists, cab drivers and gas station employees on our television screens, this fall season will showcase more complex and nuanced Muslim characters than ever before. The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow has added a Muslim superhero, and tonight (Oct. 12) the trailblazing Shonda Rhimes will introduce a Muslim medical intern as a recurring character on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. We will also see recurring Muslim characters on NBC’s Blindspot and The Brave.

Along with my excitement over the increased representation, I feel a bit of anxiety about how my fellow American Muslims will react to Hollywood’s more authentic portrayals of Muslim characters. This year, there has been plenty of chatter over the episode of Netflix’s Master of None where Dev (Aziz Ansari) eats pork, enjoys it and encourages others to do the same. Riz Ahmed’s character in HBO’s The Night Of raised a few eyebrows by having premarital sex, and Nikohl Boosheri’s LGBTQ/hair-covering character in Freeform’s The Bold Type did not go unnoticed.