Pretty Little Liars: Summer School Star Jordan Gonzalez Talks Pride Episode, Trans Rights, and That Riverdale Reference
Photo by Timothy Fernandez
Small spoilers ahead for Pretty Little Liars: Summer School season 2 episode 6. Content warning for brief discussions of suicide, sexual assault, and homophobia related to the episode.
Jordan Gonzalez’s mom has a favorite story about him. She has a photo of the memory: A kid standing in the yard, no older than three, finding a flower on the ground and scooping it up gently just to stare at it for a half hour or more. No instinct to pull it apart, or destroy it — just cupped in his hand to gaze upon it.
“[She said] that I must be an old soul, and I must've been here before, because any other kid would've just grabbed it and shredded it and ripped it apart,” the Pretty Liars: Summer School actor, who plays Ash, the boyfriend of Mouse (Malia Pyles), tells Teen Vogue. “But I was looking at it like it was this thing that I have known before and seen before.”
Growing up in the Atlanta suburb of Roswell, Georgia, Gonzalez was a kid with a lot of energy and a lot of feelings. He played soccer competitively, joining an Olympic development team through middle and high school. There’s a 12-year age gap between him and his older brother, a 6’2” linebacker whose arm Gonzalez would literally hang on to for attention. “I would bother the f*ck out of him all the time because he was just the epitome of the greatest person alive,” he says. “I was just so overwhelmed how much I loved him. We're still best friends now.”
Gonzalez found acting through “weird circumstances.” After graduating from his Catholic high school, he drove across the country to move to Los Angeles, with no plan and no inclination toward acting. He worked briefly in the entertainment industry, sold gym memberships at a 24-Hour Fitness, and slept in his car. He used to tell his mom he wanted to move to California, though he’d never been. He calls it a “life path” thing — you just end up where you’re supposed to be.
“I hadn't transitioned yet, but I was out in the queer community, and I just knew that Atlanta wasn't big enough for what I was meant to do,” Gonzalez says. “I wasn't sure what it was, but it was just a gut feeling.”
Soon, he had started transitioning and was keenly aware of how few trans masculine people were making it in Hollywood; it became the fuel for his own career ambitions.
He got a manager and began submitting self-tapes; watching them back, he quickly realized he needed an acting coach. It didn’t take long from there before he started getting callbacks and booking roles. After a short film, he had a guest part on The L Word: Generation Q, and then nabbed the role of Ash on Pretty Little Liars spinoff Original Sin, which premiered in 2022 and is currently in the middle of season 2, Summer School.
“I got thrown into the PLL masterclass of acting,” he says with a smile. He would come to set on his off days during season 1 filming in Saugerties, New York, just to watch the girls work. The learning paid off; for season 2, he was upgraded to a series regular as Ash and Mouse’s relationship continues.
Pyles and Gonzalez are also dating in real life; the first time they met was on set at the beginning of season 1. “It was just like this instant trust in each other. I can't have any more gratitude for her than I do, because she is so seasoned and she's incredible,” he says. “And to trust someone who's brand new to truly be in support of her was a really cool, awesome thing because she didn't have to do that. I think most people would probably not be as generous and kind, but if I had any questions or was confused about anything, she was the first person to guide me through to make sure that I was prepared.”
Gonzalez’s Ash is basically the ideal boyfriend: compassionate, supportive, dreamy. Together, Mouse and Ash make up a central couple in the series, a couple you can’t imagine not being endgame. Gonzalez has seen the way fans have gushed about his character online, and let’s just say he isn’t mad at it.
“It's like I'm getting to relive high school and the identity that I didn't get a chance to kind of [embody],” he says. “I wish that I would've been Jordan in high school, and the fact that Ash has been chosen by the fans as this heartthrob, perfect boyfriend, ideal man, there's not much more affirming than that.”
The actor got to build out Ash from a brief character description, developing him into a “suave” yet sweet leading man who gets more time to shine in season 2, and especially in episode 6, out June 6. The episode is, fittingly for the month, Pride-themed. In it, we see Ash as a passionate advocate. He’s long been the leader of Millwood High’s Spectrum Club for LGBTQIA+ students, but he’s particularly fired up in this episode — the town of Millwood has declined their permit request for a Pride celebration in the park.
Simultaneously, Kelly Beasley’s culty local church has overtaken Imogen’s old house to put on a terrifying pageant called Redemption House where students reenact sexual assault, wild parties with illicit substances, and suicide with the devil lurking in each room to punish them for their “sins.” In one scene, classmates Greg (Elias Kacavas) and Henry (Ben Cook) look at gay porn together and are sent to hell for it.
It’s a depiction of an actual phenomenon in some religious spaces: a hell house, Ash explains to Mouse in the episode. Later, he and Mouse share a vulnerable scene. “Redemption House is the kind of thing that makes trans kids hurt themselves,” he tells her, a fierce, devastated look on his face. “Worse than hurt themselves.”
Gonzalez is grateful to co-creators Lindsay Calhoon Bring and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa for that scene.
“It does show the weight of the reality of this stuff. If these kids can't, at the bare minimum, talk to someone about how they're feeling without judgment, they're going to feel isolated,” he says. “They're unfortunately not going to want to be on this planet anymore, because they don't feel seen, they don't feel heard, and they feel othered, and we're not. We're no different than anyone, I'm no different than anyone. I'm a boyfriend, I'm a son, I'm a brother.”
“That's the thing that I always drive home to people, and that's why also I'm particularly so grateful to Lindsay and Roberto for not shoving his transness down people's throats, because most people don't even know that he's trans until episode six comes out and he actually is that upset about [what’s happening],” Gonzalez continues. He imagines a viewer who maybe doesn’t understand or think they support trans rights, a viewer who doesn’t realize Ash is trans — they just know he’s cool, confident, has a cute girlfriend. “And then they have to think [about their beliefs]. Because then there's no prejudgment.”
The representation conversation continues to evolve; what does it really mean to feel seen in media when on-screen representation doesn’t seem to move the needle in the real world? When trans rights are continuing to be stripped away? When LGBTQ+ youth are still at high risk for mental health struggles and suicide?
“It's tough because media does sway people's opinions, but I think when you have the state of the country and the fear that everybody lives in, and the world that we live in now, I don't know that media is as influential as other things that are being shouted into the ether,” Gonzalez says. “The state of our country is not great for trans people. I have a tough time opening my phone and seeing those things personally, but I know that I have to, because that comes with part of the role that I chose to do. How emotional I was in that scene in episode six was pulled straight from how I felt in the world. I mean, I was watching so many anti-trans videos on TikTok over, and over, and over, and over. It's heartbreaking, particularly for the kids who are seeking help in these states, like Florida … It's backwards, and it's years behind. And we're years behind on so many things right now, and I hope that we as young people continue to fight for what's right and swing that pendulum, because if we don't then it's just going to be a repeat of the cycle. We have to break it, just like generational trauma.”
Ultimately, the episode balances the darkness of the horror around these characters with the celebratory nature of Pride — a dichotomy queer and trans people have always existed in, creating joy and inclusivity in the midst of heartbreak and oppression. There is levity, like when Greg shows up to the Pride pool party in a rainbow shirt, apologizes to Faran for his part in Redemption House, and shares some choice information from the Aguirre-Sacasa universe: Kevin Keller from Riverdale is his cousin, and he would never want to hurt his gay cousin.
Gonzalez laughs thinking about that moment. “I am curious to see how that lands with everyone, for sure,” he says. “But it's funny, I think people need to stop taking shows so seriously. People can say silly goofy things because teens do, and their identities are constantly shifting. Greg could be this asshole jock, and then all of a sudden realize that maybe it's not for him, and maybe he's not doing it for the right reasons but he's trying to figure it out, just like any other teen. So yes, is it ridiculous that he shows up in a bunch of rainbow? That he's like, ‘My cousin Kevin is gay in Riverdale?’ Yes. And everyone should laugh… it's going to be memed so hard. I can't wait.”
Pretty Little Liars: Summer School episodes drop every Thursday on Max.
Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
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