It’s finally here; the trailer for the new Netflix series, Dear White People. The series, based on the 2014 film, Dear White People, will follow six completely different black students at a predominately white institute.
The 2014 satirical piece, written and directed by Justin Simeon, starred Tessa Thompson as the no non-sense, pro black, Sam White but in the new series, actress Logan Browning (Hit the Floor) will portray the character. I don’t know how to feel; I really liked Tessa Thompson as Sam but she is busy inking major deals so Browning will do. Brandon P Bell will reprise his role as the token black political science student, Troy Fairbanks and Antoinette Robertson (The Haves and the Have Nots) will play the bougie, attention seeking, Colandrea ‘Coco’ Conners. DeRon Horton will play the reclusive, student journalist, Lionel Higgins and Ashley Blaine Featherson and Marque Richardson will reprise and expand their roles in the upcoming series.
The show will also introduce some new characters like Rashid Bakr, played by Jeremy Tardy. Bakr will be a student from Kenya who speaks 5 languages. He’ll discover what life is like as a Kenyan student navigating America and how African American students live as well.
The short clip looks identical to the movie with a similar scene showing students crashing a black face Halloween party. I’m assuming there will be a lot more than copycat scenes to the project and hopefully there is more depth to some of the characters like Coco for instance; the writers left her hanging with next to no development or change to her character in the film. Needless to say, I am super excited for the show.
Check out the trailer below and catch the premiere on April 28th.
