Production on the next season of RuPaul's Drag Race has reportedly begun in Los Angeles.
New seasons of the show typically are filmed every summer for broadcast early the following year, but production was delayed this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Variety, plans have now been developed and approved to film the new season in a safe way, with the contestants and key crew getting tested for COVID-19 three times a week during the shoot.
The queens are not expected to have to socially distance from each other as the group is usually sequestered together in any case, although the publication says that the judges will be kept separate from each other by glass screens installed on an elongated judging desk.
That detail would appear to suggest that the judges - including RuPaul, Michelle Visage and Ross Mathews - will not form part of a close production bubble, while the inclusion of weekly guest judges is also uncertain for the new season.
A return to filming in the coming months means that the show should be able to make it to air as usual in 2021, with the new season of All Stars likely to be filmed back-to-back with the main series.
In the UK, the second season of the local version - also hosted by RuPaul - had already started filming when the pandemic began but could now be completed by the end of the year.
Neil Wilkes
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