The thrust of pronouns: adaptation challenges in the TV series And Just Like That

The present paper addresses the challenges arising in translating/adapting into Italian the dialogues in the American TV series And Just Like That (Darren Star, 2021–2023), focusing on gender-fair language and the utilisation of the epicene “they”. Throughout my paper, I shall highlight passages in the episodes in which gender issues are involved, delving into the discourse portraying gender identity and the role and value of the use of the epicene pronoun related to gender non-conforming individuals. The presence, within the series, of several nonbinary characters leads the script to vibrate with ‘new stances’ and bring key issues to the attention of a global audience. The Italian version of the episodes parti ally retains the use of singular “they”. The analysis takes into account cases of ‘preservation’ and ‘deletion’, further looking at the way the sentence is arranged accordingly, given the constraints of the Italian grammar system. The task of translators, when dealing with scripts that portray gender-neutral pronouns is as delicate as it is challenging. The scenario is quite treacherous and falling back into heteronormative categories is quite common; not all languages (and the societies they serve) develop at the same pace and this raises translational issues for both professionals who translate audiovisual products and authors of scientific literature.