Since its debut on the Oprah Winfrey Network in September 2016, ‘Queen Sugar’ has explored the life of the Black Southern through the prism of one family, the Bordelons, and their quest to protect their land and legacy. has been praised for its complex and intimate depiction of the struggle of in the fictional St. Josephine Parish in Louisiana.
Based on a book by Nathalie Basile and created by Ava DuVernay, the series began with the sudden death of Ernest Bordelon (Glynn Terman) and the subsequent battle over the fate of the family farm. It is Ernest’s three children who are left to fend off the Landry, a neighboring white family who mourn his loss and have tried to buy, seize, or steal land from Borderón for generations. The ambitious entrepreneur has become an elected official Charlie (Dawn Ryan Gardner). and a sensitive son, Ralph Angel (Kofi Shiriboe), formerly incarcerated but now a zealous leader of a farmers’ cooperative.
Over six seasons, lush with family members including Ernest’s loyal sister Aunt Vie (Tina Lifford), big-hearted husband Hollywood (Omar J. Dorsey), and Charlie’s politically conscious son Micah (Nicholas L. Ashe). I live in a beautiful landscape. A nuanced story about an African-American family. The show’s exploration of intergenerational trauma on the land also includes concerns about topics such as police brutality, domestic violence, and substance abuse.
Although it was DuVernay’s first foray into television, her distinctive style and political insight shaped the series from the start. She directed her three episodes, including the pilot and series finale, and in her 88 episodes of the show, she eventually worked with 42 and made an early decision to hire only female directors. . “Why did we do this? Because we can,” DuVernay explained in her 2018 Gloria Awards speech. “Because we can create spaces that nourish with our own image, just as our man has created with his own image for more than a century.”
In a video interview ahead of the seventh and final season of “Queen Sugar,” which begins Tuesday, DuVernay, Wesley, and executive producer Paul Garnes discuss how the theme of family resonated with every aspect of the show, and why they decided to lean into the reality of Covid and the 2020 racial protests in their storyline.
How would you define the legacy of “Queen Sugar”?
Rutina Wesley When I think of heritage, I think of the family’s power to heal and restore things. I showed it with how the bolderons interacted. The fights we had and the love we had for each other were really powerful. We were able to showcase those relationships that are sometimes forgettable and actually need to improve themselves.
Ava Duvernay We wanted to advocate as strongly and authentically as possible for the idea that American families are black, and to put black families in the canon of American family drama. From “The Waltons” to “Thirtysomething” to “The Sopranos,” they’re all family dramas, but they’re never black dramas. If you watch a black family on television, it will either have comedic nuances or it will be historical. We always talked about “Queen Sugar”.
Moved upwards, educated, previously imprisoned, abused, assaulted, assaulted – all these characters are there and designed to make this Black family the epitome of the Black family. rice field. I wish it had sparked more shows about black families, but the fact that so many others aren’t seen underscores the difficulty of invading the sacred space of American family drama. The fact that we stayed there for seven seasons, said what we wanted to say, and left it on our own terms, is a true testament to Mr. Winfrey and OWN.
It’s also one of the few series set in the rural South. Land has always been important to this show.
Paul Garnes For our predominantly African-American crew and cast, it was never lost that this was the land where slave people struggled. I was in high spirits. The land is the character that binds us to the South and was important to the way the show was written. It influenced the show’s visuals.
Speaking of the South, Rutina’s last major role was cod in “True Blood”, which is set in Louisiana. How did that experience influence your approach to Nova?
Wesley It was Tara’s first big role and I loved playing her, but seeing myself in “Queen Sugar” was like another world. I cried when I first saw our first episode. How beautiful does that make me look? is it my skin? I realized that maybe people didn’t know how to light me up on other shows. But Nova was a godsend. She liked not knowing where she was going. It’s really rare for her to have that freedom for her.
Ava, Nova is a writer and activist. Is she the character that most resembles you?
duvernay After seven seasons and listening to family feedback, it seems like they’re writing about us. Aunt Vi is a direct descendant of my mother. Nova and Charlie, both me. Ralph Angel is my brother. Ernest’s ideas and how he loomed large throughout the series — I’m not sure it would have existed as much as it does now if my own father hadn’t died in season one. get over it. It changed us forever. We still talk about it and say his name all the time. Boderon does so for Ernest. None of that was in the show’s original plans.
My dad came to see me direct the first few episodes, so the last time I saw him standing was on the set of “Queen Sugar.” When I next saw him, he was in the hospital and died two days later.
I flew from Los Angeles to Alabama where he and his family are. And all the members of this brand new cast — I didn’t know them very well. It’s a moment I’m grateful for, trying to speak to the family environment we’ve cultivated on the show and reflect it in the story.
I was struck by your emphasis on being a “modern” black family drama. Many shows have avoided addressing Covid or racial protests in 2020. Why did you decide to focus on these issues last season?
garness How do you come back and tell the same story? George Floyd happened, the world changed, and those things had a profound effect on black people. It got weird to even think about filming a show that we had already written.
Wesley It was intense. I remember really not being able to breathe in this mask, but I’m going to figure it out. That’s what we were going through.
duvernay In general, it’s always been a narrative strategy to make sure that we’re dealing with large-scale issues like this, and that there’s always an interpersonal dynamic that may or may not be related to them. For example, if Mika is pulled over by the police, we’re talking about that season and the next, and it reverberates three seasons later. That’s how the metabolism works in black lives. Everyone else sees it as a problem, but it’s our life. It has to happen in the bones of the characters, permeate and affect all of them in some way.
Ava, you directed the first and last episodes of the show. How does the journey of ‘Queen Sugar’ reflect who you are as a director?
duvernay I never thought of it that way. A lot has happened to me as a filmmaker since the start of ‘Queen Sugar’. I remember being on that first set and thinking, ‘I don’t really know what we’re doing, let’s make it like an indie movie. I was worried that it would have a bad reputation. It wasn’t sexy, no laughter, no action. It was just a black family running the farm. But this is getting into people’s bloodstreams and people all over the world are coming to talk about “Queen Sugar”.
Directing the last episode — I’ve never directed so quickly with so many units going on at the same time. I had to take it all in and the cast, crew, everyone, it’s like the last leg of a race. we’re going to do that That ability and confidence alone makes me a different woman than when I started. This show has helped me grow and accept blessings in a way that impacts my entire life.