Taking place this evening, and ending just moments ago, presented by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, an hour-long conversation with the cast members of OWN’s “Queen Sugar,” including Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Kofi Siriboe, Omar Dorsey, Tina Lifford, Dondre T. Whitfield, Nicholas L. Ashe, and Timon Kyle Durrett.
Moderated by Arianna Davis of Refinery 29, watch the full, comprehensive conversation below, which covers a wide variety of topics related to the series, as well as the network it calls home.
From Ava DuVernay and executive producer Oprah Winfrey, the contemporary drama “Queen Sugar” chronicles the lives and loves of the estranged Bordelon siblings in Saint Josephine, Louisiana: Nova (Rutina Wesley), a world-wise journalist and activist; Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner), the savvy wife and manager of a professional basketball star; and Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe), a formerly incarcerated young father in search of redemption. After a family tragedy, the Bordelons must navigate the triumphs and struggles of their complicated lives in order to run an ailing sugarcane farm in the Deep South.
Led by DuVernay, who directed the first two episodes, all episodes in the series’ debut season are directed by women including Tina Mabry, Victoria Mahoney, Tanya Hamilton, So Yong Kim, Kat Candler, Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Neema Barnette.
The series is based on the book by Natalie Baszile.
The expansive cast includes Tina Lifford as Aunt Violet; Omar J. Dorsey as Violet’s much younger boyfriend Hollywood Desonier; Dondré Whitfield as trusted Bordelon family friend Remy Newell; Timon Kyle Durrett as Charley’s husband, professional basketball star Davis West, Nicholas L. Ashe as Charley and Davis’ teenage son, Micah; Greg Vaughan as a local cop and Nova’s lover, Calvin; and Ethan Hutchison as Ralph-Angel’s son, Blue. Additionally, Glynn Turman guest stars as family patriarch Ernest Bordelon; Henry G. Sanders recurs as Prosper Denton, a farmer and longtime friend of Ernest, Bianca Lawson guest stars as Ralph Angel’s ex-girlfriend and mother of Blue, Darla; and Marycarmen Lopez as Blue’s elementary school teacher.
Watch the SAG-AFTRA conversation with the key cast below (it starts at around the 7 minute mark):
