Netflix's Animated Gay Spy Series 'Q-Force' Is Rated TV-MA — Why?

From Netflix comes the new animated series Q-Force, a series following Steve Maryweather (Agent Mary) as he assembles the Q-Force, a team of gay spies working for the American Intelligence Agency (AIA).

The Q-Force, tired after a decade of waiting for the AIA to assign them a mission, goes rogue. "After finding their own case, and solving it on their own terms, they get the reluctant approval of The AIA, and are officially upgraded to Active Secret Agents in the field," the official description reads. "But, that approval comes with one major caveat — they must put up with a new member of the squad: straight-guy Agent Buck."

The animated series is rated TV-MA, which could make some potential viewers pause before watching it. Why is Q-Force rated TV-MA?

Q-Force is rated TV-MA, meaning it's a more mature TV show and is not suitable for younger audiences. According to Netflix's listing, the series is rated TV-MA for sex, nudity, and language. This means it likely includes a lot of swearing and some graphic sexual scenes. It currently does not have many reviews on the parents' guide on IMDb, but so far viewers have said it has moderate sex and nudity content.

That being said, it appears the series isn't extremely inappropriate. If you're a parent wondering whether your child should watch the show, it's best to screen it for yourself or watch the first couple of episodes with them. Most importantly, starting a conversation with your child about the things you might find inappropriate in a show or film is the best way to ensure they understand why certain things might not be for them.

From Hazy Mills, the production company founded by Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner, Q-Force is a 10-episode animated series following a gay spy and his team of other LGBTQ+ spies as they take on missions (and deal with things in their personal lives, of course). This adult show has finally come to fruition after much discussion between Sean and Todd about creating a gay spy series.

“A spy TV series is so tough, because they’re so expensive,” Todd said to Deadline. “We were thinking how do we get to do gay spy and every week, and the only way to do that is animated, because we can do all of the fun parts of a James Bond film. We can travel, we can have big chase sequences; animation is allowing us that freedom.”

The duo also said they weren't sure they could have a live-action spy series with a gay lead.

“Also, I don’t know that the studios would greenlight a feature with a leading character that’s gay in that genre," Sean told the outlet. "Hopefully they will, but that doesn’t seem like right now.”

“It does seem like it’s one of the last bastions of masculinity that seems like we can’t break the rule of who gets to play that part," Todd said.

Q-Force is now streaming all 10 episodes of its first season on Netflix.