Sort Of's Bilal Baig on ending on a high note

Fab Filippo and Bilal Baig recently announced that the upcoming season of their hit show, Sort Of, will be its last. But Baig had known for a while that it was time to wrap things up. They just felt it in their gut. 

"When we were in the writers' room, when we discovered what the finale was, I can't describe it other than it just felt right," says Baig, who also stars as Sabi, the hilariously deadpan electrician-turned-nanny-turned-bar owner, who is also gender-fluid and Pakistani Canadian. The number of adjectives one could use to describe Sabi is part of what makes Sort Of so special — and worthy of multiple awards, including a Peabody. Every character in the show is multi-dimensional. 

Sort Of will return to CBC Gem on Nov. 17 for its third and final season. The story picks up right where Season 2 left off (S2 spoilers ahead!), with Sabi navigating the sudden loss of their father, Imran (Dhirendra). They're also reeling from the kiss they shared with their married friend and sort-of employer, Bessy (Grace Lynn Kung). Sort Of has never shied away from big life changes. And Baig found themselves contending with a major one in real life as they decided to end the show that brought them international recognition, and created needed opportunities for LGBTQ+ creatives. 

Ahead of Sort Of's highly anticipated final season, I spoke with Baig about making big decisions, knowing when it's time to move on and navigating the uncertainty of what comes next. 

This interview has been edited and condensed. 

You've described Sort Of as a show that's about transitions. How would you describe the transition we're seeing in Season 3?

Well, you know, it's so much in response to the events that happened at the end of Season 2: the death of Imran, Sabi's father, and then Sabi kissing Bessy. Those two events have huge repercussions, and this third season really looks at that and looks at how people change after big things happen.

When did you know you wanted Season 3 to be the show's final one?

I knew around Season 2. By the time we had crafted the writing of it, I started to feel like if we were so lucky to have a third season, it would be great to feel the aftermath of these two events, the loss of the father and kissing Bessy.

When we were in the writers' room, when we discovered what the finale was, I can't describe it other than it just felt right. Like where we end this series, this character — I think it says something really specific about this time of change and evolution in Sabi's life. So it felt really, really satisfying in that way. 

Even so, this is a big decision. Are you usually a pretty decisive person?

I'm a Libra. So like, no? But also yes. I really like my gut. I've had a really good relationship with my intuition for many years now around projects I choose, around people I encounter and friendships I develop. I really like the choices I've been making.

What's your process for making big decisions? 

If a decision starts to feel right, I kind of feel it in my body. I feel a kind of certainty or peacefulness … even though it could be complicated and all of that. So it's [about] listening to myself, and then talking things out with people who I really love and who I know really love me, to look at something from as many angles as possible. 

Given how successful the show is, did you get any pushback on this decision?

No, you know, it's surprising…. What's been exceptional about this show, and what I really hope people know and understand, is that the product can only feel the way it does if the producers really get it.

We've been so lucky that we've been really able to make the thing we wanted to make without a lot of people coming in and making us second-guess ourselves. There's been a lot of trust in us, so I think people trusted that we knew what we were saying when we said this was the end.

It sounds like that support made all the difference. 

Yeah, for sure. And having a partner in crime in all of this. Like, thank God the show isn't just my sole responsibility. I'd burst. To have Fab [Filippo] alongside the whole way through to talk it out and to check in with him about how he's doing around it…. We had a lot of time to really think about it. So I think that helped. 

In the statement you released together, you noted the show is "ending at a time when trans communities continue to be targeted and trans rights are being constantly attacked." The show has been a platform for trans representation, and created opportunities through its trans and non-binary mentorship program. Did what's happening in the world right now make it harder to end this show?

It was so difficult, for sure. It was something that I was thinking about since I got the feeling of, "Oh, I think I've only got one more season in me." What does that mean for people who really love this show and need this show in ways? I get lots of messages that speak about the way this show saved people's lives or their relationships with their family members and their relationships to themselves, too.

It was something that did pull me, and then ultimately, I went back to this feeling I had ... [that] me actually honouring the show is ending it, because I really don't think I had a fourth season in me.

What do you want the legacy of Sort Of to be?

It's in what we've been talking about around these characters. I hope they're remembered as real and flawed and complicated and human. I think how we tried to capture trans and non-binary humanity is so important right now, and will be important for the times ahead of us.

When I think about legacy, I [also] go back to all the things that we did that were cool on this show ... behind the scenes. Working with all the women of colour directors that we worked with, working with a trans director in the second season, the diversity of our writers' rooms, the mentorship program. I want that to be a part of our legacy, because it matters that we were doing this work off-camera, and it totally influences the thing that people see on screen and love so much. 

[Sort Of] was made with a lot of intention and heart and compassion and love. That would be really cool if we were remembered for all of that. 

You mentioned earlier how Sort Of is all about how people change after big things happen to them. This show and its success was also a big thing for you personally. How has it changed you?

It's been affirming in a lot of ways. Not so much about the gender stuff but more about the artist stuff — that a story like this exists on our screens, that we took up that space for those three years. It gives me a feeling of understanding my place in this world a little bit more.

I feel really affirmed as an artist, and strong in myself and the kinds of stories I want to tell. But at the same time, I think it's always important to hold the complexity … this has been a huge thing that happened to me in my 20s. It's a thing I'm constantly navigating: this kind of visibility and attention sometimes. So, all [this] to say, it's changed everything about my life. 

Looking back, what would you tell Bilal at the outset of Season 1?

I spent the majority of Season 1 not being totally certain of who I am as a leader. I would second-guess myself a lot. 

[But] the things I go to naturally or say naturally as a leader — they worked. This show, we were able to make it happen. And people respond to all different kinds of leadership. So I think something like that: to trust that intuition a bit more, trust that none of this would have happened if you weren't capable. You are deserving. 

With the show ending, how do you deal with the uncertainty of what's next? 

I've chosen a career that's so volatile, so this thing about unpredictability, I feel like it's so natural, it's so part of this work. I was working very precariously as a theatre artist for several years, so I just have a different relationship to it. I'm looking forward to the unknown a little bit. I don't have my next steps mapped out. I'm moving slowly and carefully, and I feel really good about it. 

It's a thing I always tried to prioritize on set, too. I try to approach all things with as much calmness as possible, especially when they're really heightened, stressful situations. So the unknown? I'm kind of chill about it.