'We're Here' Creative Team on De'Bronski's 'Astounding' Journey on HBO Show

The creative team behind We're Here told Newsweek how much they enjoyed and appreciated working with De'Bronski and telling his story in the newest episode of Season 3.

Show creators Johnnie Ingram and Stephen Warren, and director Peter LoGreco shared their thoughts on De'Bronski's journey, who was paired with Bob the Drag Queen in the Jackson, Mississippi episode.

We're Here sees RuPaul's Drag Race icons Bob, Shangela and Eureka travel to small towns across the country to spread love and positivity, with each helping a person who becomes their "drag kid"—as they are called on the show—for the week, before putting on a one-off drag show at the end.

De'Bronski is one of the drag kids, and he appeared on the show alongside Mark, who was paired with Shangela, and Chris, who was mentored by Eureka.

'We're Here' Creative Team on De'Bronski's 'Astounding' Journey on HBO Show

In the episode, De'Bronski shared his struggle with accepting his sexuality and how his immediate family were unsupportive when they learned he was gay, going so far as to perform an exorcism on him. One family member once threatened him and his fiancé James' life.

He also explained how he felt scared of drag queens and briefly stopped speaking to James when he learned that he performed in drag. At one point in the episode, De'Bronski even decided that he did not want to appear in the show anymore, but he overcame his fear to give an incredible solo performance of "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" by Jennifer Hudson.

LoGreco called his performance on the show "astounding," while Ingram was particularly moved by De'Bronski's journey and explained how essential it was to feature people like him on We're Here.

"That story is why we created the show," Ingram said. "All these stories are so important, but this De'Bronski story [is] in particular.

"De'Bronski is engaged to a drag performer but is so fearful of drag queens and this fear—this is really what this season is about, is combating that fear whether it's internal or you've heard it from the internet or you've heard it from a loved one, or there's some fear of drag, or drag performers, that is sort of instilled into people's minds.

"For him to overcome that fear while we're on the ground. Not only he admitted his fear, he didn't talk to his fiancé for a month after he learned that he was a drag performer who was hiding it from him."

"For De'Bronski to face that fear out of love, and just to see on camera his real struggle —because he has had such a challenging life growing up and not being accepted from his family. [...] Celebrating something that you were fearful of, and celebrating it in the most epic way [was important]." added Ingram "Bob and De'Bronski's connection is just wonderfully told, because Bob has connections to Mississippi, and I think their bond was one of the most special bonds we've ever seen in the history of the show.

"For Bob to even give De'Bronski that moment, to not even perform typically —as most performances are the drag performers giving support [to] their drag kids on stage— but to just give De'Bronski that moment... He was on the stage by himself, facing his fears.

"I mean, it's one of the best performances we've ever had in the entire history of the show and I can't wait for people to see it."

LoGreco was very much in agreement and said of his favorite moments on Season 3: "There's a couple of things, when you're surprised by how someone's story unfolds. It's really on a personal level, for me, it's really exciting and impactful, and honestly when someone really has a drag performance that not only connects to who they are and their story is just astounding.

"I think both of those boxes for me were checked by De'Bronski's story in Mississippi. I think that was one of the most moving things to be part of, to be there with him as he walked through the experience and really struggled with it."

LoGreco added that De'Bronski gave "a performance that I think threw us all for a loop" and said that the queens and team who did the make-up, hair, and costumes were all so surprised that they joked that De'Bronski was a professional drag queen and just hadn't told them.

"Of course they were all joking," LoGreco said. "But the point being, when [De'Bronski] was up there [...] it was so much emotion that was released. I think that's reflective of the impact that the experience had on him, so that, I think, was a real highlight for me."

Co-creator Warren explained that De'Bronski's performance was one of his favorite performances, alongside that of a young transgender girl who will appear in the show's two-part finale in Florida.

"The two performances where people were unable to literally get words out of their mouths for a certain [amount of time] just because they were overrun with emotion was this little girl and De'Bronski," Warren reflected.

"It's a rare, beautiful thing to be able to witness when people reach a place of such profound [joy], just in touch with their vulnerability and their joy. It's beautiful, and that happened twice."

We're Here airs Fridays on HBO and HBO Max at 10 p.m. ET.