The all-new fourth season of WE’RE HERE has already concluded and from the moments we’ve watched we can see that this iteration, complete with all new hosts, has taken on a slightly different format, approach, and tone, but it is still the award-winning and important, impactful series it always was. Here are our observations after seeing the first three episodes of the newest season.
Four new drag mamas grace the space. After three seasons, Bob The Drag Queen, Shangela, and Eureka have moved on. I didn’t know anything about them when they kicked off this show and the same holds true for the new hosts. If you aren’t of the lifestyle and/or haven’t stayed glued to RuPaul’s programming you just don’t know one iota about these people. Once again, these personas are alumni of RuPaul’s show. As we noted before, the 2024 hosts are Sasha Velour, Priyanka, Jaida Essence Hall, and Latrice Royale.
Why four hosts? Well, they take turns. The show, in a new format change, is filmed in only two locations. The first stop is in Tennessee and the second stop is in Oklahoma and fresh energy is swapped out between those locales. Face it, the show must take a lot of energy from its players. For one, there must be an emotional & mental toll placed on the hosts as they confront hostility and disgust on and off camera. That too might play in on the reason that new hosts are now in place. The original hosts of WE’RE HERE must have needed a break for a couple of reasons. As the seasons rolled on the tensions about what their community was trying to stage in heavily conservative locales must have exhausted them, plus the structure of the show, a new locale weekly, had to lead to exhaustion, plus their personal lives and other interests were on hold. Bob had the gig being in Madonna’s world tour to honor, Eureka openly admitted on camera a self-evaluation taking place in her life, and well, Shangela ended up with a good old lawsuit on her plate. All this warranted a change-up for the series to move forward because the LGBTQ+ community still called out for its continuation.
The episodes this writer saw illustrate a shift in what now gets on camera in WE’RE HERE going forward. One, there is less personal time with the hosts. From our understanding, there are moments of reveals about the original hosts during their tenure, but a sense of identity with the newer hosts is scant, however, for those who will follow the HBO show in its entirety, they will open up more in the long run, just as the 
originals did. They almost have to as this work is not all about the glamour and fun for those who do drag, but of the battle, anguish, and raw emotions that come out of all of it. The fight for recognition and acceptance is tough indeed. The first seasons focused more on the “drag daughters” and their journey and gave them their moments to be understood and to shine. It wasn’t until Season Three’s stop in Ron DeSantis’s Florida that real dangerous tensions started to be shown. The climate has now changed for the worse. When it came to the segments on Tennesse in this fourth season, they did get to highlight the ‘daughters’ in the third installment and pull off the big drag show they hope to do, but the first two episodes focused on the political climate and the kickback the drag troupe was experiencing. They ended up in City Hall feeling the wrath of hate speech, quoted city ordinances banning their right to assembly within city limits, and risked arrest.
For me, the drama and challenges are a lot more interesting than the drag show performances anyway, but true fans of the series and the lifestyle might wish for a lighter show. However, sadly, that is not the atmosphere and tone of the country these days and WE’RE HERE is not flinching in facing it. We trust that they kept fighting for their rights in Oklahoma and hope that the show carries on with pride & Pride.
