SPOILERS are ahead for the Only Murders in the Building Season 2 premiere episodes, “Person of Interest” and “Framed,” now streaming with a Hulu subscription.
Only Murders in the Building (a.k.a. Hulu’s most-watched comedy) returned this week to a new mystery for Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez’s characters to solve. Alongside that, the series introduced Suicide Squad actress Cara Delevingne into the fold as Alice, an art world insider who connects with Mabel about her artwork. In the span of Season 2’s first two episodes, Alice and Mabel quickly become close and even share a passionate kiss. Delevingne is one to kiss and tell, when it comes to her moment with Gomez.
Cara Delevingne and Selena Gomez are longtime best friends in real life, who first met when they were 15. When speaking to sharing the kiss with her BFF as the Alice to her Mabel, the Only Murders In The Building cast member said this:
It was just fun. Would anyone in the world not like to kiss Selena? It was just hysterical. It's just one of those things, especially when you know someone so well, it's the comfortability and you kind of have fun with it… For me to be able to get to play a queer role meant so much to me, and [Selena] knew that. To represent that was really exciting.
Delevingne is queer herself, openly identifying as bisexual and pansexual in the past and notably dating famous women such as Pretty Little Liars actress Ashley Benson and musician St. Vincent. While speaking to E!, Delevingne said it was “fun” to make out with Selena Gomez in Episode 2, though because they know each other so well, they of course couldn’t help but make light of it.
Mabel and Alice depicting a queer romantic relationship between two women in one of Hulu’s most popular shows is a huge step in the direction of representation. As a good friend of Delevingne, perhaps Selena Gomez helped make the move happen, and the kiss means a lot to the Suicide Squad actress to be part of.
We’re only two episodes into Season 2 of Only Murders, but so far it's great to see the series' main character have a queer moment without the theatrics of coming out, as many shows often do. Mabel was previously in a relationship with Oscar (Aaron Dominguez), but following the intense events of Season 1, Mabel explains that they both seem to be waiting for the “just friends” text.
When Selena Gomez was asked about Mabel’s sexuality in a recent interview (via Twitter), the actress shared that she’s “not quite sure” and doesn’t think Mabel knows either. She said that her character has been “so repressed, sexually” and has a “great difficulty with intimacy” with men and women. We’ll have to see how Mabel continues to progress in the series as Gomez continues to steal the show in Only Murders in the Building. New episodes of the show will drop on Tuesdays into late August.
