Alan Zaveri

## Media

**Alan Zaveri** is a queer character from *Russian Doll*.

## Biography

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## Appearance

Alan is a tall, African-American man with a sharp, rigid posture commented on by other characters often, and a smart dress sense. He has dark brown hair and brown eyes, and a medium brown skin tone. He is physically very fit and exercises each morning. He frequently wears button up shirts and neatly ironed clothing. In the first season Alan remains clean shaven and his hair shortened to a buzz cut. In the second season Alan grows out a neat moustache. At times he wears a dark hooded jacket over his shirts. As Agnes, he is a Ghanian woman with darker skin and a neat afro and a pair of cat-eye spectacles visible whenever he passes by mirrors.

## Personality

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## Sexuality

Alan was assumed to be straight throughout the first season having dated the same woman, Beatrice, for almost a decade, however in the second season he is transported into the body of his grandmother Agnes and through living as her meets Larry. Alan falls in love with Larry and was always eager to turn to 1962 in order to see Larry again. He's happy to kiss Larry in the hallway as they part ways, and excitedly tells his friend Nadia about him. She initially assumes his interest is in a woman, and isn't phased when Alan corrects that his lover is a man. He never explicitly labels himself but does not appear to mind falling in love with Larry, and is devastated when Larry leaves without saying goodbye. In Nadia's drug trip, Alan and Larry are shown kissing in the crowds of people Nadia is surrounded by. He also enjoyed the attention of a male guard at the train station.

It was expressed by his actor, Barnett, that Alan is enjoying the freedom being in 1962 allows him, both in terms of love and sexuality, and gender.

Alan has been stated not to be trans, or experiencing a *"trans identity experience"*, however many fans drew particular interest on how comfortable Alan was when a woman. It is noteworthy that Alan spent the majority of season two in the body of his grandmother. He appeared much more relaxed as opposed to his more rigid personality in modern times, and appeared to thoroughly enjoy his time as a woman. Barnett described Alan's sexuality and gender identity in season two as *"[Alan's] enjoying feeling the true form of love, and exploring that sensation, rather than even considering if it's a man or if it's a woman or anything. He's having fun exploring, and exploring his own identity."* Barnett continued to say that he had considered trans identities and experiences when formulating his portrayal of Alan. Alan living in the shoes of a woman was portrayed as a consistently positive experience for Alan that despite not canonically intended as a trans experience, many trans fans resonated with it.

### Reaction

Fans were overall extremely pleased with the introduction of queer themes in Alan's story. Many liked that Alan appeared to have no internalized issues with his attraction to Larry. A majority of fans labeled him as bisexual while others speculated that he could be gay, given his attitude differences between the women his mother sets him up with and how relaxed he is with Larry. However, the actor who portrays Alan, Charlie Barnett, stated that *"[Barnett] don't think Alan's gay. I think he's having fun exploring his own sexuality."*

A number of fans were excited to see Alan's comfort while living in the body of a woman and saw an element of representation in his portrayal. Although explicitly stated by the actor that Alan is not a trans person, he is still exploring his identity and enjoying himself doing so, which was positively received by viewers. It has become a popular headcanon among fans that Alan is either non-binary or a transwoman due to the positive portrayal of Alan and his attitude towards being a woman. As with his exploration of sexuality a majority of fans were disappointed by the lack of screentime awarded to Alan in the second season, particularly when his story included queer themes.

## Relationships

### Nadia

During the first season Alan and Nadia realized their lives had been connected through a time loop and would always die together at the same time. They would last the longest when around one another and quickly became close friends. When he found out that the man Nadia was sleeping with the night of their first death was the same man with whom his girlfriend had cheated on him with, Alan told Nadia that he could do better than the man could and Nadia enthusiastically agreed. The pair slept together once, however that was where their romantic and sexual experiences with one another ended and they remained close friends. Nadia rescued an alternate timeline Alan from his first death, as he did her in another timeline. Nadia describes herself as Alan's inner circle and the pair spent a number of Nadia's birthdays together just in case the time loop resumed. Alan confides with Nadia about his love life from his exasperation at the amount of dates his mother is setting him up on and telling her about Larry in 1962.

### Beatrice

Alan dated Beatrice for almost a decade, since they were young adults. Their relationship became increasingly strained as Beatrice fell out of romantic love with Alan but worried about his mental state if she should leave him. Alan was consciously unaware there was anything wrong but later admitted that the signs were always there, he just chose to ignore them. Beatrice eventually cheated on Alan with one of the professors, Mike, at her college and became serious. The night of Alan's first death Beatrice broke up with him and Alan fell into a deep spiral and got drunk. Beatrice and Alan still notably care for one another and in one timeline Alan is polite to Beatrice's new partner and is happy for Beatrice. Alan is also still protective of Beatrice despite her cheating on him and doesn't want her treated the same way. In many other timelines Alan is angry at Mike for cheating on her with different women each timeline and eventually sends her photographs of him hooking up with an alternate Nadia (who was unaware he was dating Beatrice) which leads to Beatrice breaking up with Mike.

### Lenny

When Alan is transported to 1962 and inhabits the body of his grandmother, Agnes, he meets her boyfriend at the time Larry. Alan quickly falls in love with Larry and makes repeated trips to 1962 purely to see Larry. They kiss in the hallway outside of Agnes' home and are shown kissing during Nadia's drug trip. Although Alan is in love with Larry and tells Nadia about him, Larry does not know Alan is inhabiting Agnes and is therefore totally unaware of Alan's existence. Alan tries to convince Larry not to endanger his life with plans to dig underneath the Berlin Wall in order to see his family on the other side again and tries to tell him to wait. Given how long Larry would have to wait for the wall to fall and his disbelief of the claims Alan, as Agnes, is making he eventually goes through with the plans and leaves without saying goodbye to Alan's obvious distress. Alan asks his grandmother if she knows what happened to Larry and is upset when she admits she doesn't. Alan even tries to find information about Larry in the future and gets distressed when he can't find anything.

## Tropes

* Queer Character, Queer Actor - Charlie Barnett has identified as a queer person.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Digital Spy - Russian Doll's Charlie Barnett explains what The Void and Alan's queer journey means to him