Freeform/Ed Herrera(NEW YORK) — Freeform’s The Bold Type debuts its second season tonight and this time around, it has gained a new series regular. Nikohl Boosheri, who plays the groundbreaking character Adena, joins the cast full time.
The character is one not often represented on screen, if at all. Adena is a Muslim lesbian artist, who’s fearless in her beliefs and confident in who she is. This season we see her exploring her blossoming relationship with Kat, the social media director at Scarlet magazine, played by Aisha Dee. The fan favorite couple is lovingly referred to as #Kadena.
Boosheri admits she feels a responsibility playing Adena, but she realizes she can’t represent everyone’s experiences.
“I hope that it is a sign to creators that audiences are ready and are hungry for complex and non-traditional characters in stories like this and I hope we just see more of it,” she tells ABC Radio. “I hope that this is one of many, not the only one.”
Nikohl has gotten tons of responses from fans who relate to Adena, from places as varied as Turkey, South America and Russia. She thinks it’s really special that seeing a character like Adena can make people feel “seen and heard and that they’re not alone.”
It’s especially fitting given that June is Pride Month. Boosheri has a message for her LGBTQ fans: “We always say ‘it gets better,’ but I really think that that’s true… I think we’re all beautiful in all the things that make us unique and different and that should be celebrated and accepted.”
The Bold Type, which follows a trio of friends working at a women’s magazine, airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Freeform.
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