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Queen Sugar Cast on Season 5
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00:00Last thing I'm gonna do is let my pride get in the way of me supporting my family.
00:06It's time I meet your family.
00:08It's never been easy.
00:11How does it feel to be the other woman?
00:13Watch yourself hate me.
00:18Hey everybody, it's so good to see you.
00:20Thank you so much for chatting with Essence.
00:22How you doing?
00:23Doing good, how you doing?
00:25Good, it's good to see everybody smiling and looking good and feeling good.
00:29We are still in a pandemic and I think a lot of us are so happy 2020 is over, but we still have a long road ahead.
00:37How have each of you just been honing up during this time?
00:41Man, self-love, self-love, a lot of self-love and self-care.
00:46I call it healthy distractions.
00:48You kind of got to do something.
00:51It's like being stuck in your house for six months.
00:54You're not going to just stare at the walls, but you're trying to do something that's not going to set you back.
01:00If anything, transmute all the stuff that you're trying to let go to move forward.
01:05But I just personally just stay creative.
01:08You know what I'm saying?
01:09Make music or write.
01:11Try and get outside or bring outside inside.
01:13But yeah, yeah, just staying creative, just staying, staying proactive.
01:20For me, I've tried to stay close with those I love.
01:25So I'm usually a hermit and the pandemic has made me not be a hermit and many want to reach out.
01:33And I'm like, this sucks because I can't hang out with nobody, but I'm reaching out.
01:36I'm reaching out.
01:37I'm here.
01:39You know, and it's made me take care of myself better than I ever have.
01:44And not just because I had the time, but I think I had, like, time to really think and balance myself out and manage the things I needed to manage for myself.
01:55You know, and I was able to do it, but it's, I kind of take it one day at a time and I'm learning to just go with the flow.
02:04So whatever, whichever the way the stream is going, and that's the way I'm going to go.
02:09And you just kind of have to be fluid right now in these times because we don't know.
02:12We're so still uncertain about a lot of things.
02:14So for me, I think it's been a combination of two things.
02:19One is rest.
02:20That was something I really discovered early in the pandemic is just how much I had not normalized rest in my life and how it was a welcome interruption, to be honest, that I took the opportunity to start to normalize that and start to really create serious self-care.
02:43Like, not just, like, the hashtag self-care, you know, but, like, a routine of it and really to get into routine.
02:52I think that's part of what, you know, being an actor and being an artist, you sort of have to go where the work is and just your life is auditions and all kinds of stuff, right?
03:01But getting into a sense of, hey, you know, dinner time is now.
03:08And, you know, just honestly, that was actually a big gift for me.
03:11But the second part of it was the creative.
03:14I feel like that's actually the way that I've found my way through is in writing and then basically imagining and projects and things that I'm most interested in.
03:25And it gave me time to flesh those out and to really start to move those forward.
03:29That was such an incredible gift.
03:32I don't know if I would have done it in the same way or with the same, I guess, ability to focus on it had that not happened.
03:40Yeah.
03:41Nice.
03:42I have a funny.
03:43I have a funny.
03:45So, Don Leanne, do you know that my name means routine in Spanish?
03:51I did not know that.
03:53So, you were like a routine of it.
03:56I was like, that's my routine.
03:59And so, I have to tell you, okay, okay, okay, real quick.
04:01My mom says she made up my name because my grandmother's name is Ruth.
04:05And she was like, okay, Ru, Ru, Rutina.
04:08But my mom was also like fluent in Spanish back in the day.
04:11And I still didn't know this until my sophomore year of high school.
04:14And I'm in Spanish class.
04:15And I'm looking in the back of the dictionary.
04:17And I was like, where's my name?
04:21I thought it was, I thought it was, I was crying.
04:23I thought it was made up.
04:25I was like, there's my name.
04:26It means routine.
04:29And so, when I've traveled to like other countries and stuff, some people would be like,
04:33Rutina, Rutina.
04:35And I would just be like, oh my God.
04:37But I had to say that because it's kind of a funny.
04:38Sorry.
04:40It means routine in Spanish.
04:41You were my anchor, girl.
04:44All through the pandemic.
04:46You were my anchor.
04:49Okay.
04:49So, let's have to laugh.
04:51Sorry.
04:52Yes.
04:52No, no.
04:53It's so good.
04:54I was just thinking about, season four was so intense.
04:57Like, I was so mad at Nova.
05:00Hello, everybody.
05:01Yeah.
05:02But then it was also hard seeing her be so isolated, you know, in that way.
05:07So, it just took me through a lot of emotions.
05:09So, it's good to see you all laughing and talking in that way.
05:12You know, as we go into season five, have those relationships been fully restored that
05:19were kind of injured a little bit last season?
05:21I feel like, I mean, you know, Charlie and Nova had a chance to mend when Nova was able
05:39to come to her rescue and help her.
05:42And they really got to talk in a yurt about their life and their childhood and really got
05:49to hash some things out.
05:50I think the hardest relationship was with Ra and Nova.
05:54And even though Nova, you know, was able to discover where True was buried, our mother
06:00and was able to share that with Ra, I feel like we did bond.
06:04But I do feel like it's going to still take some time to mend because there was a deep betrayal
06:11there.
06:12So, in the same with Darla and Nova, with Vi, like all of those things, I think Darla's
06:22going to really take some work for her to mend that.
06:24But I think with Vi and hopefully with Ra, you will see that they will sort of be able
06:28to come together, do that and do the work.
06:32And Nova has to do the work of and own up to what she did and do the work to change that.
06:38Like I said, you know, she's going to start moving differently because of the book and
06:42what it did.
06:43And with, you know, last season was all about this idea of uncovering truth and really
06:47relieving, you know, Bordelon from the burdens of secrets.
06:52What are some of the themes that are going to be explored in the next season?
06:56Interestingly, of course, when we began, we didn't know, right, that the pandemic was
07:00coming, that it was starting.
07:02And so they had a whole other season that they had planned out for us.
07:07And so the first episode, I think, points in that direction a bit more.
07:10And then we start to change direction in the second episode because that's actually when
07:14we shut down and, you know, when we came back, we had to pick up right in the middle of the
07:18episode.
07:18So I think the themes that emerged from that reality are a lot about survival and a lot
07:25about, you know, what does it mean for us?
07:29What happened for us in this past season?
07:31How does all of that affect each household?
07:37Because it really is a sort of a household-specific season.
07:42And as Ava has said, which is a really great framing of it, I think it's actually the best
07:47framing of it, it's really a time capsule of what happened for, you know, Black folks
07:52in Black America last year.
07:54And so I think that that's really the theme is sort of processing the traumas, the grief,
08:02and the victories of Black folks, which were all interconnected through COVID and through
08:09BLM and through George Floyd, and, you know, all of those experiences had their share of
08:17incredible pain and incredible resilience and incredible survival.
08:22And so I think that that's at the basis of it.
08:24It's the story of survival, especially through 2020.
08:28And what was it like for you all having to pivot, you know, thinking the story is going
08:33this way, and then, you know, all of a sudden a complete revamp and a whole new direction?
08:39It wasn't too much of a pivot simply because we didn't know too much.
08:43It was kind of like a false start.
08:47You know, we were like, oh, okay, you know, but it wasn't too much of a pivot, you know,
08:52it was more so just so interesting, like, the space in between.
08:56It's like, you know, we shot one episode or maybe two episodes, and then, like,
09:01it was six months, you know, damn near seven months until we started working again,
09:06you know, so just like, I guess, really absorbing that space and seeing how it reflected
09:11in work on set, you know, just like, you know, with everything going on, that was pretty
09:17interesting, you know, and I think it's a great thing that the story was
09:21reflective of what's actually happening right now, you know?
09:25Yeah, it was, it was like, for me, I feel like it was good to get back in there and
09:30work, especially through with the pandemic and everything.
09:33I was like, I need something to do, and it needs to be creative, and I need to,
09:38like, let this out, and so, like, I was thankful that we were able to come back,
09:42and even more thankful that we were going to talk, talk about what was happening
09:47right now.
09:49It was like, it was a gift in a way to have it, have it that way.
09:54Yeah, I love that also with the character, Charlie, I feel like what we'll see from her
10:00really mimics what we're seeing in society now with her being a councilwoman now.
10:04We see so many Black women across the country rising in the ranks in political offices.
10:10What can you kind of tell us about that storyline and what we'll see from her in that role?
10:15Yeah, I mean, it's, it's such an homage to exactly the moment that we're in politically,
10:20right, with Black women finally getting the, the, the, the, what they deserve in terms of
10:25their due, you know, behind the scenes, you know, holding it down, and, and essentially,
10:32we, we won this election.
10:33We all know, I can say it.
10:35I'm pretty, I can claim it.
10:36And so, you know, I, I think that there's such a, just a beautiful meeting of story and
10:45fiction and reality, as often is the case with this show.
10:50And I think what we do see with her is what does that, you know, political role, what does
10:55it require of her in unprecedented times, in an unprecedented moment?
10:59How is she going to be in leadership?
11:02How is she going to be in service?
11:04And how is she going to protect ultimately the community she cares most about?
11:07Who, you know, like many communities around the country are going to be differently hit
11:13with COVID and differently challenged with COVID and in all the ways, not just in folks who
11:18are getting sick and, and, you know, very horribly and painfully potentially dying, but businesses,
11:24how those, how that affects businesses and black businesses, how that affects family relationships
11:30and how that affects schooling and how that affects, you know, kids.
11:34And so I think she's, she's challenged in a very particular way, in a, in a way that, you
11:41know, like all of us, she didn't come into the year expecting to be challenged or come into
11:46a new, a new role in her life.
11:48Yeah.
11:49As a woman expecting to be challenged.
11:51I think though, what's interesting with her is that as, as hard as she goes in life, you
11:58know, and as hard as she's going to go for that community and protection and COVID safety
12:05and all that, she also goes inwardly as hard and things bring her to, to that point.
12:11And so you see that journey in addition to all of her, all of her, her efforts as a councilwoman.
12:18And then we also have this, this new character, Parker Campbell, who first thing I was like,
12:24she's something else.
12:26Can you tell us anything about just how, you know, she may show up in season five?
12:35Yeah.
12:35Yeah.
12:35So I think, I feel like the moment I found out that it was going to be a mirrored at the
12:41end of season four, I was, I screamed and I was like, like, it's going to be her.
12:45And I, I imagined like the, what the audience is going to do when they see her turn around
12:50and it was like, oh my God.
12:52So, um, that was really, really wonderful.
12:55It's been wonderful to work with her.
12:57Um, we're like two kids when we worked together actually, but, um, but what I think it also
13:03brings into play is a bit of a mirror for Charlie.
13:07And, um, and we see that I think most extremely in episode one of, of this, of this season,
13:14um, because she's someone, you know, Charlie plays a mean game when she needs to, and she
13:19knows exactly how to shift into that.
13:21And here's someone who's like, oh, oh, but I can, I can match you and I can, you know,
13:26but with very different intentions.
13:28So I think it's, um, it's a great way to sort of kick off the season and, um, yeah, stay
13:34tuned for, for more about her.
13:39Nice.
13:39And then, um, you know, also with, with Ralph Angel, I actually rewatched the last few episodes
13:45of season four last night.
13:47And for some reason, just the way there was a moment when you're telling Darla, like,
13:51I see you, I see all of you.
13:52I love, you know, and I love it all.
13:54I don't know.
13:54It hit me different for some reason in that moment, it was, it was intense and, and just
13:59came across so loving it and so real.
14:01But what, um, can you tell us just about how their love story will continue to develop?
14:07It continues to develop.
14:09I think Ralph Angel and, uh, Darla have always been trying to find like a common place.
14:14You know, they both have such, you know, uh, unique stories.
14:18They had crazy journeys.
14:19And, uh, I mean, those journeys brought them together essentially in, in, in blue has been
14:25the glue for their relationship in a lot of ways.
14:27It's given them a lot of direction and, uh, I just feel like it's, it's natural that
14:32they're like, okay, is this like a moment or are we, are we going to secure this for
14:36real?
14:37You know, what does that look like?
14:39And what work has to be done before we could do that?
14:43You know, ideally they would have been married, you know, season two.
14:47But, uh, it's been a journey.
14:50It's been a journey.
14:51So, um, yeah, you see them coming to terms with a lot, a lot of self-reflection and like
14:56being in each other's space and, and being a support to each other on that individual
15:00journey of like independence, but then also like creating a collective space of, a collective
15:07space of like security.
15:09All right.
15:09All right.
15:10That's all I can say.
15:12Jealousy going on.
15:13And then also, you know, with, with Nova and Calvin, we see, looks like, you know,
15:24they're, they're back together and they're going to be out in the open and we see, um,
15:28you know, this scene in the, in the trailer where it looks like his wife, you know, kind
15:32of confronting it.
15:33She's meeting the family and, you know, you like watch yourself and then, you know, it
15:36was, we knew something was coming.
15:39What can you kind of tell us about that?
15:40I'm not telling you nothing.
15:43It's coming though.
15:44It's coming.
15:45Um, but with Nova and Calvin, that's the kind of the stuff, you know, on the end of
15:49that trailer, like that's the kind of stuff that they're going to have to talk about.
15:53Like they gotta, they gotta have some really deep conversations with each other.
15:57Um, you know, and I mean, we've also never seen Nova like this happy, like, especially
16:03with him at the end of season four.
16:04I mean, he's twirling around and dancing and love.
16:07Right.
16:08Um, but you know, when the pandemic hits, I think it hits them too, in a way.
16:13Um, and they really gotta kind of sit down eye to eye and they gotta talk about some
16:18things and, um, they're both going to experience things together and separately on this journey.
16:24Um, and I guess, you know, will the love withstand it all?
16:30Yeah.
16:30Will the love be able to see them through this whole thing?
16:33So that's the one, that's what you, that's what you're going to watch for.
16:35Okay.
16:35That's what you're going to watch for.
16:36All right.
16:37Will the love withstand it all?
16:40Got it.
16:40Um, I also feel like there's really a story being told through hair, um, with your characters.
16:48I think about Charlie, like the first season, the straight, long, you know, weave, and then
16:53we see her curly and natural as she's running the mill now looks like the short, straight
16:57cut.
16:58Um, and then Nova, you know, has had lots, but we see the train looks like a short, kind
17:03of curly cut.
17:04Is that intentional?
17:05Is that part of the development and progression of the characters?
17:08Uh, it's intentional.
17:11Okay.
17:12Uh, um, I'm glad you noticed the hair was different because some people, a lot of people are missing
17:17it.
17:17So you actually know that's awesome.
17:20But yeah, you know, as, I mean, as black women, right, we're always changing our hair
17:24depending on what we're going through and how we're feeling.
17:27Right.
17:28Um, it's kind of like the one thing we have that we can, on our body that we can be so
17:32creative with and it's our thing.
17:34Um, and so I think we've tried to like tell that story about black women and their hair and
17:38how they care about their hair.
17:39And then especially if your hair is locked, what that means.
17:42Um, and then what it means when you don't have locks anymore, like all of that.
17:46Um, we explore all of that.
17:48Um, and I think it's, it's, it's awesome to see because that is how we are in real life
17:53as black women.
17:54I mean, we, our hair is a serious thing.
17:57Don't touch it.
17:58Don't touch it.
17:59It's mine.
18:00I bought it.
18:00You know, like, you know, so that's, you're going to, you're going to definitely see that,
18:06you know, and I've loved, I love that we, we have been reflecting that back, that, that
18:11stage of black women in the hair.
18:13Yeah.
18:14Yeah.
18:15I think in, in terms of, um, in terms of Charlie's journey, it has been really amazing to track
18:21sort of her emotional life, you know, in her, in her, in her evolution, essentially, like
18:26you're right.
18:27She began season one with the straight hair and the waves and that, you know, she was
18:32that woman with all the, all the stuff.
18:35And, um, and then halfway through season two, you know, there was a marked shift and it was
18:40very incredibly intentional to go curly, to go natural.
18:44There is a shift happening, happening within her 1000% reflected her emotional space.
18:50And then she stayed curly really through season three and season four.
18:53And I, I actually really appreciate this choice to bring her into season five with, um, you
19:00know, this very sleek, very, you know, um, new, new moment in her hair.
19:06And part of why I like it is because, you know, reflects, I think a, a, a hair journey that
19:12many of us relate to that, you know, we may start out with like, here's the expectation
19:16of me.
19:17Here's what society expects me to do.
19:18Here's what beauty looks like.
19:19And then we may move into, wait, let me actually love on and embrace who, who, and what I am
19:25as, as I am without the sort of additions.
19:29Um, and then we move to this, like, okay, that relationship is pretty, it's pretty solid
19:34and pretty set.
19:34And now I can just do what I want.
19:35I can play how I want because it's not in place of a self-love or it's not in place of
19:41an embracing of, of your truth and an embracing of, of beauty as you are.
19:45It's just, just a more flexible back and forth that feels like, um, okay, I'm including all
19:51of it now.
19:52Um, so I like that, that, that, that's where we find her in season five and, and she's
19:57got some, uh, she's got some, some big stakes at hand.
20:01And then I feel like her haircut is like, all right, ready.
20:04Exactly.
20:05No.
20:08Yeah, I'm sorry.
20:09Um, but lastly, I want to just ask about sort of decompressing.
20:14I, um, I hadn't had on, so I hadn't caught up to seasons.
20:18And then I binge watched all four seasons one weekend at the time of the pandemic, which
20:22I don't know if that was smart.
20:24Like I was just going through it that weekend.
20:25It was a lot, um, to take in, I think particularly the blue and that storyline and, and how beautiful
20:33that was done, but, um, so intense.
20:35And so I'm curious, you know, for you all, when you're filming these really emotional
20:39scenes, you know, what, what are kind of your tactics for kind of decompressing and taking
20:43it off after?
20:44I definitely use music a lot to get into, into a character's, a certain space, uh, and
20:51to get out of it.
20:53And ever since I did my first show, true blood, it has taken me.
20:58It takes me, sorry, two hours at least to come down when I come home from work.
21:04My energy, like I go one 50, I'm going to give you all of me.
21:07I'm going to give you all of it.
21:08And I get home and I'm like, still like this, like still ready to go.
21:12And so I put on some music, you know, but it always takes me at least like two hours
21:16just to kind of decompress from it, especially with the type of material that we deal with.
21:20You got to have a release.
21:22You got to have somewhere to drop it off.
21:24Yeah.
21:24I would say music too.
21:26Um, I've, I've, I've always written music when I was younger, you know, and, uh, I realized
21:312017, I think that was season two.
21:33Um, I remember we, we started, I think with 13 episodes and then, uh, we did 16 season two.
21:42And I was just like, I wasn't ready for that.
21:45Y'all ain't tell me about extra three.
21:48I felt that, you know, as we're talking about, I'm like, I need someone to put this, you know,
21:55because it's like, you literally are, you're revving, revving yourself up to this place
21:59of emotion.
22:00And it's like, then there's like somewhat of a release and even on set, it's a lot of
22:03stop and start and, you know, uh, uh, uh, three hours, you know, so you're just like, it's,
22:10it's, it's just there, you know?
22:11So like, I realized that I really need to put this somewhere because it's a lot.
22:15And, um, if I don't, it comes out and, you know, how it wants to.
22:18So music, you know, um, music, music, music, yeah.
22:25Yeah.
22:25It's, it's so funny whenever I hear, um, that someone has like binged the show.
22:31Are you okay?
22:32Like, cause that's a lot, a lot to process.
22:35Like it's a lot.
22:37Um, so I hope you're all right.
22:40Um, but beyond that, um, in terms of decompressing, you know, this season, I actually feel like I
22:47found the best balance.
22:48Of all the seasons because Charlie's RPM is so much faster than mine.
22:54And so I actually find it hard during the week when we're filming to come down.
22:59It re it's so challenging for me to get out of her energy because I have to rev back up
23:05into it, uh, the next day.
23:07So I, I, I usually like would reserve a Saturday to fully do absolutely nothing just to balance
23:15out, you know, my, my own, like remembering my own RPM.
23:19And that was the way that the previous seasons have gone this season because of all the realities
23:24with how we were shooting.
23:25Um, and how, you know, there's a, just a reality to pace.
23:28You had to pace it differently.
23:29Um, just, just a reality that, that it actually allowed me to find a better balance all the
23:35way through, even though we had totally different circumstances and we're shooting the whole
23:41season at once.
23:42And, you know, that was sort of challenge, but, um, because of the pace, I actually found
23:47a way to come down from that RPM and then, and then come back up into it more regularly
23:54through the week.
23:54So that was actually, um, rest is the only thing that I, that I can say, like really
23:59totally not doing anything at all whatsoever is actually how I, how I let it go.
24:06Um, yeah.
24:08Nice.
24:09Well, thank you all so much for chatting with us.
24:13Um, congrats on another season, another two seasons, actually.
24:16Uh, we know that season six is already approved and I think in the works for you all.
24:20So congratulations on that and best wishes.
24:25Thanks.
24:26Take care.
24:29Bye.
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