Andi Mack's Joshua Rush Opens Up About Cyrus Being Gay & Hopes More Shows Will Follow in Their Footsteps

Late last year, when Disney announced that Cyrus Goodman on Andi Mack would be the network’s first openly gay lead character, fans were ecstatic about it — and they still are.

Joshua Rush spoke with People about the impact of his character’s arc on the series, saying that he did “feel the pressure, and I also don’t…I think the most important thing for me when I got this part was to do it right.”

“I knew that I wanted to do it justice,” he adds. “I knew that people were gonna end up seeing this and being like, ‘Wow that’s me, I identify with that [and] I can be who I am now,’ but I also wanted to make sure that it’s not all-encompassing. Like that’s not all of Cyrus’ personality.”

Josh knows the weight that comes with the storyline too.

“It’s important that everybody gets representation and that anybody having thoughts on who they are is able to see that represented on TV and to be shown that’s okay,” he explains. “I think [my character] Cyrus feels different, and I think in our teenage years we all feel different at different times, so it’s important to show anyone that Cyrus is comfortable with who he is and is happy with who he is.”

“I hope that more shows will follow in Disney’s footsteps with Cyrus’ storyline. Really, I look forward to the day that it’s not an unusual occurrence. I hope everyone can one day see that our differences are beautiful and that love is love.”

Andi Mack will air a brand new episode TOMORROW NIGHT, Friday, February 23rd on Disney Channel.