If you are a writer, don't be afraid to age up your characters. Give the mom the love triangle. Give the grandmother the steamy beach scene. The audience is waiting.
If you are writing a "mom mature granny" storyline, avoid the pitfall of the "sexy lamp." Do not simply place an older woman in a story as a trophy for a younger man or a prize for a widower.
Historically, older women in literature and film were relegated to supporting roles: the self-sacrificing mother or the wise, asexual grandmother. Their purpose was to facilitate the growth of younger characters. However, contemporary storytelling has begun to dismantle these tropes. The "mature" protagonist is now frequently depicted as a woman experiencing a "second adolescence"—a period after child-rearing or career peaks where she can finally prioritize her own desires. This shift validates the idea that romantic yearning and the need for intimacy do not have an expiration date. Complexity in Romantic Storylines
The most compelling mainstream example of this shift is arguably the 2023 romantic drama The Lost King (Frears) or the fan-fiction explosion surrounding characters like Mama C from Encanto or even the nuanced dating storyline of in the later seasons of The Golden Girls revival theories. More explicitly, the rise of "seasoned romance" novels—a subgenre championed by authors like Nora Roberts (in her later quartets) and Maeve Binchy —has proven that there is a voracious market for love after sixty.
The romance genre is undergoing a shift to include more "truthful" portrayals of women across all age demographics.