TL;DR
- Netflix is cooking up The Body, a “gritty camp” teen thriller set in an all-girls Catholic high school.
- A dance-team initiation goes sideways — and suddenly the girls are having prophetic visions that spark mass hysteria.
- The show is created by queer filmmaker Quinn Shephard, who calls it a “raunchy teen psychodrama” with Catholic horror vibes.
- Gabby Windey joins as Coach Miller, giving sapphic fans a very good reason to tune in.
- No release date yet, but it’s expected late 2026.
Netflix’s The Body is coming — and it’s giving sapphic, sinful, and suspiciously Catholic
Queer TV has been having a moment — and yes, the world is still thirsting after hockey boys like it’s an Olympic sport — but let’s not pretend sapphic viewers haven’t been surviving on crumbs and vibes. Enter Netflix’s The Body, an upcoming eight-episode thriller that sounds like it was brewed in a convent basement by a horny ghost with a film degree.
It’s created by queer writer-director Quinn Shephard, and it’s set at an all-girls Catholic high school where the dance team is one bad decision away from turning the whole town into a panic attack with eyeliner. The official premise: after a dance-team initiation goes wrong, a group of “badly behaved” Catholic school girls start having prophetic visions — and those visions ignite mass hysteria. If that doesn’t scream “sapphic-coded chaos,” then frankly, we’ve all been watching different television.
Shephard describes the tone as “gritty camp,” calling it “a raunchy teen psychodrama with a dash of Catholic horror.” She also says she’s always been fascinated by “girlhood as a religious experience,” and that this story is her playful spin on the nightmares of being a teen. Relatable! Some people got acne; some of us got religious trauma and a crush on the mean girl who made it worse.
What is The Body about
If you like your coming-of-age stories with a side of dread, you’re in luck. The Body follows a dance team at a Catholic girls’ school, where something goes wrong during initiation — and suddenly the girls’ visions start spreading like gossip in homeroom. The story is meant as a love letter to ’90s and Y2K teen movies and erotic thrillers, plus a buffet of religious and historical references. Shephard has said she was obsessed with The Crucible and the Salem witch trials as a teen, and that revisiting those themes through today’s political climate has been “interesting.” Translation: it’s going to be messy, loaded, and probably way too real beneath the camp.
And honestly? Good. Sapphic stories deserve to be more than soft lighting and a tragic piano score. Let the girls be loud. Let them be complicated. Let them be unhinged in plaid skirts with symbolism.
Who’s in it
Here’s the headline for a huge chunk of the audience: Gabby Windey — yes, The Bachelorette star and The Traitors chaos angel — is in this thing. Windey, who is married to comedian Robby Hoffman in real life, plays the dance team’s coach, Coach Miller. That alone is enough to get lesbians setting calendar alerts they will absolutely forget to check.
The cast also includes a roster of rising actors: Kristina Bogic, Sara Boustany, Geena Meszaros, Nnamdi Asomugha, Louisa Krause, Shirley Chen, Jackson Kelly, and Sofia Wylie, among others. In other words: fresh faces, big energy, and a strong chance at at least one breakout star who becomes everyone’s new impossible crush.
How queer will it be
Netflix hasn’t spelled out exactly how explicitly queer the characters will be — which is both annoying and extremely on brand. But between Shephard’s POV, the setting (all-girls Catholic school, hello?), and Windey’s presence, it would be more shocking if the show wasn’t dripping with sapphic tension.
And here’s the bigger deal: even the uncertainty is telling. We shouldn’t have to squint at subtext like we’re decoding ancient scripture. Sapphic audiences have spent years being told to accept “best friends” who stare into each other’s souls for seven episodes and then marry men in the finale. So when a project like this comes along — created by a queer filmmaker, centered on girlhood, and soaked in delicious camp — it feels like a chance to finally get a series that doesn’t treat queer women like an afterthought.
For the LGBTQ+ community, more sapphic-forward mainstream TV isn’t just “nice to have.” It’s representation that can make queer girls feel less alone in places that already police bodies, desires, and identity — like religious schools, conservative towns, and families that confuse control with love.
When it drops
There’s no official release date yet, but the expectation is toward the end of 2026. Until then, consider this your warning: when Netflix’s The Body arrives, it’s going to have the internet arguing about symbolism, clutching pearls, and replaying “that scene” like it’s a sacred ritual.
And if it’s even half as sapphic as it sounds? The girls are going to eat.