Queen Sugar (2016) s05e00 Episode Script

RUTINA WESLEY: "Queen Sugar"
is a drama about family.
AVA DUVERNAY: It's one of the few shows
that centers black family
life in a dramatic sense.
We are all here, Daddy.
We will pour our life
and love to the land
and keep the farm going.
We will live out the legacy you left us.
I know exactly where I want to be.
It's love, choices.
[INAUDIBLE]
[INAUDIBLE]
Circumstances,
discovery, and reinvention.
Welcome to Vi's Pies and Diner.
[CHEERING]
Really, it's a conversation
that unfolds around family
and community and legacy.
We hug around here, baby.
I think you'll find yourself
identifying with little
parts of everyone.
[YELLING]
Hi, I'm Ava DuVernay, and I'm
taking you inside the making
of "Queen Sugar."
We're here for those men and women
locked up for no other reason
than because they're poor.
With never before heard stories
from the cast and an exclusive
sneak peek at season 5
This is good land.
I'm so excited to share with
you all the triumphs and all
the stories that you've not yet heard
and tell you all about what it took
to get this season on its feet.
No more running.
No more taking the easy way out.
We ain't going nowhere.
Looking back, when I first
started working on "Queen
Sugar," I was terrified.
It's going to take a lot of hard work,
and if you work
together, it can be done.
A few days before episode
one, I remember thinking,
what am I doing?
This is television.
People have to want to watch
this every single week.
Hear me now.
I'm the only farmer in this
parish capable of bringing
in a crop on this land on time.
Can you give us a few
days to think about it?
A week maybe?
A week? Mercy.
Try two days.
After that, that land's
not worth anything to me.
It wasn't until I got into the flow
and I started to understand,
oh, people are watching
it like you watch things.
They look forward to the characters.
They talk about it all week.
Charley and I,
we think you and Boo should
move into Daddy's house.
[CHUCKLES]
What about the farm?
Like I said, I'm not
signing up to be no farmer,
- but we got a plan.
- Yeah.
It won't be easy, but we
think we should go for it.
I truly had so much
anxiety, and never imagined
we'd be going into writing season six
and I'd be here talking
to you about season five.
This is a badass deal,
and I'm proud as hell
for you trying to pull it off.
Can you imagine a Black woman owning
and operating her own mill?
Come on, what?
It's crazy.
Congratulations.
This is the longest time I've told
one story, and every season,
with the various show runners
Anthony Sparks has been with
us a couple of seasons now
They all have done a lovely
job of keeping the story
where the characters should go.
This redfish looks so good.
I'm never disappointed.
That's the truth. Right.
Wow. This is a feast fit for daddy.
And also just becoming
enamored with the idea
that we can have a drama series
that is not based on spectacle.
It's not based on humor.
I love spectacle and I love humor,
but a true hardcore drama.
Is everything OK?
Just a crazy day.
That's all.
You have a lot on your
shoulders, Ralph Angel.
You're handling it, though.
I'm proud of you.
Appreciate it.
Like those kinds of shows, the
thirtysomethings and the
kinds of shows that I see white
people being the center
of for decades and decades.
Have you seen a flamingo?
They're really tall.
Taller than me?
They're not that tall.
They're not that tall.
And so it's just a family drama.
It's nothing more splashy than that.
But you get to know
these family members.
You get to know the siblings.
You get to know their histories,
their backgrounds, what they
like, what they don't like,
what's going to work
when they get together and what's
not going to work,
and all the revelations of
people who are destined to live
their lives together, which
is what a family sometimes is,
for those of us who are lucky.
And so I became really
attached to the idea
of making something like that.
It's become important, but it started
just out of a place of love.
I love you.
Oh.
I choose you.
Embrace the future.
- Oh, yeah. Yeah.
- [APPLAUSE]
Yeah.
And mark.
CREW: And action.
And action.
First day of filming on
the first season,
well, I shot the first two
episodes it was in Charley
and Davis and Micah's house.
I remember we found this
like glass chic house,
and we wanted to create something
that was very much in contrast
to the Bordelon farmhouse.
And we had a little driving
scene, where we shot down
Sunset Boulevard and she
sees the billboard of Davis,
and he's the gentleman.
And she created this persona for him.
Those were the first days.
This is when Davis comes
home from a hard day
at the office, which is the NBA game,
and she's outside at the pool.
And he's like
All the work, baby.
I know, but it's not over.
It is.
He picks her up and
carries her to the bedroom.
And we had a very short amount of time
to establish their connection
before the famous scene,
where she walks out on
the basketball court.
I remember when I wrote that
scene, I was like, too much?
What did you do?
What? What are you talking about?
What?
What did you do?
[SCREAMING]
What did you do?
You're a liar. You're a liar.
Baby, what is going hold on.
What did you do?
You liar.
What did you do?
You're a liar, Davis.
I remember Oprah saying,
it's going to depend on the way
you shoot it.
I was like, OK.
And she came that day.
We shot that in New
Orleans in the Superdome,
and there are pictures
of her on set that day.
And I remember like, oh,
gosh, is this going to work?
She's actually here watching me.
But we had fun that day.
It was great.
Dawn-Lyen Gardner, an
incredible actress,
made it feel believable
and she made it feel real.
She was a woman scorned, and nothing
else mattered except confronting him
in the middle of an NBA game.
[LAUGHS]
- Your
- Oh, yeah.
This is how I normally start
playing, because by the time
- I'm finished
- That's just not right.
AVA DUVERNAY: Anyway
those were some fun days,
and I really enjoyed shooting them both.
And it's been challenging
not to shoot more
because I love the show so much,
but any show that I direct,
any episode that I direct, means that I
can't give another woman director
the opportunity to direct.
And a big part of our show is making
sure that we get more women
directors in front of the camera.
So I probably won't
direct until the finale,
and God willing, I'll be
able to handle that one
and cap off the season
whenever that day comes.
My favorite director.
[CHEERING]
The top of every season, we get together
and I outline what I feel
should happen in that season.
And there are debates and there are
ideas that come in
from the writers room,
all of our writers.
Shout out to the folks
who've been with us
across all the episodes.
Are you doing business with the Landrys?
I almost lost everything.
But now my 1% is the first
step to taking back the power.
So you betray our family
and get in bed with an enemy
and all you got was 1%?
You're not seeing the big picture.
If Charley got a chance to change things
and take down Atlantis, I say she do it.
But I think the thing that surprised
me is the way that the story
has unfolded season to season.
As I'm in the hiatus and I'm
thinking about what can happen
to these characters next, I'm shocked
that ideas continue to come.
And both my ideas about where
this season should go and ideas
from the room, as to how
to provide scaffolding
for those ideas, the power of creativity
is an amazing and beautiful thing.
So it's been a really
beautiful experience.
I'm so blessed by it.
Daddy, give me the
strength to see this through.
I just think he represents
the best of humanity.
And it's not because he's perfect.
It's just because he's imperfect.
His duality is what makes him so
lovable and so understandable.
This is in episode one,
and it teases what's to come.
Because this season, we're
going to be able to finally see
Ralph Angel and Darla happy.
Hi, I'm Ava DuVernay, and this
is fan question time,
"Queen Sugar" fans asking questions.
Let's get into it.
Hey, I'm [INAUDIBLE] from
Charlotte, North Carolina,
and I'm a fan of "Queen Sugar."
Which "Queen Sugar" character
resonates with you the most?
Well, all of them are a
little bit of a part of me.
Definitely I'm a little bit
Nova and a little bit Charley.
And Ralph Angel is so many
things that I want to be
A fighter who doesn't give up, no matter
what life throws at him.
"Queen Sugar" is family like
you know family,
but rendered in a way
that is more compelling
and rich than you've ever seen.
So much of the show is
about coming together.
It begins with these
three siblings, who are
fairly estranged, reuniting.
I want to fix things.
We'll earn your trust,
but you got to let me in.
We're going to fight these people who
hate everything we stand for.
We can't be at war with each other.
Nova is an activist with
sometimes questionable morals.
She has a lot of,
gumption a lot of gusto.
I think the most beautiful
aspect of Nova is her spirit.
She lives by speaking truth to power.
Be a Negro in this country
and to be relatively conscious
is to be in a rage almost all the time.
James Baldwin said that.
You can change the world.
You are who I think you are.
And Charley is a fixer.
She will fix the problem.
She will put it on her
shoulders and carry it
over the finish line, even if it is
sacrificing her own happiness.
She is really driven
by the bigger picture.
I'm going to burn the entire
Landry family to the ground.
And when I own Landry Enterprises,
we'll finally bring power to
the people where it belongs.
Yeah, I can take that.
And then you have Ralph Angel, the baby.
Oh, boy, he's a handful.
I just think he represents
the best of humanity.
And it's not because he's perfect.
It's just because he's imperfect.
His duality is what makes him so
lovable and so understandable.
When I was growing
up, I kept my head down.
Ain't bothered nobody.
Nobody bothered me.
I know that's not how it is.
You let this happen to you,
but you can't give up.
Well, Aunt Vi is the
matriarch of the family
and is often the final word.
What drives her, what makes her tick
is family, the love that she
feels for her man, Hollywood.
You wanted this, and now it's all yours.
Only this time you ain't
got to share with nobody.
All you got to do is say yes.
Hollywood, this is a
lot to give somebody.
You ain't somebody.
I deserve to give you whatever I want.
Hollywood, hardworking brother,
who just wants to support
his lady, all the time.
I like to think of
Hollywood as like maybe
the rock of the family.
He's an uncle, and sometimes
he's a brother and sometimes
to everybody in the family.
Whenever you and Aunt
Vi getting married,
are you going to have a baby?
No.
I think that's OK if
you don't have a baby.
Oh, yeah?
Is that OK with you, your highness?
Yeah.
Cheers to real meat.
Chicken cheer.
Nick Ashe, it's
been beautiful to see him
echo and evolve as artists
and performers and actors
in these roles.
Little known fact, they're
the exact same age.
Michael West is a
teenager from Los Angeles.
He has two incredibly awesome,
talented, famous parents,
and is tackling what it
means to be a Black man
in modern United States.
If they build that jail, the prison,
they're going to fill it.
The real cost of the prison
isn't in dollars and cents, OK?
Prisons aren't made
of bricks and mortar.
They're made of bodies and blood.
I truly believe that we,
we are the ones we've been waiting for.
[APPLAUSE]
AVA DUVERNAY: And Darla,
her struggle with addiction,
I wanted to see the other side of it
and the real world challenge
that is every single day.
She's a recovering addict, and she's
going through an internal
evolution right now,
trying to overcome
the demons of her past.
I'm proud of you.
I respect how you stay straight
for our little man.
Thank you for that.
What are you guys doing?
Just talking.
Talking about you.
Blue is our hope.
Blue is the promise
of a brighter future.
He's understanding about his family
and what his family really is
and understanding how
the world really works.
Are we mad at Auntie Nova?
Who said I was mad at her?
I heard you this morning.
You sounded upset.
It's just like when Marcus said it
was his turn to play Minecraft.
It was actually mine.
So how did you and Marcus work this out?
We decided to each take two turns,
because Marcus' mom said,
it's not worth not being friends
over the game,
and we have more in common
than we have different.
So you're a big boy now.
Smart, too, huh?
[LAUGHS]
- Come here.
- I love you.
I love you more.
I love you even more.
I think one of the
things that we should look at
when we think about incarceration
is these aren't statistics.
These are people with real life
circumstances and experiences
and stories to tell.
These police officers,
they're trying to intimidate us.
They want us to fear them.
But we're not afraid.
They want us to fade away, but we won't.
They want to erase our humanity,
to act as if we don't exist.
But these Black bodies are real.
We recognize, our souls recognize,
that enough is enough, and it's
time to speak to the unspoken.
It's time to shed light into the dark.
It's time to actually
talk about those things
The injustices, the inequities, the pain
that is a part of our
American experience,
not just African American experience.
And "Queen Sugar" does that
through great storytelling.
Right now.
[CHEERING]
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
It's really hard to talk
about the tough stuff,
whether it's police brutality, or even
with Nova, mass
incarceration, like the stuff
that you know is going on.
It's really hard to talk about
it because we do talk about it,
so people tune out because
they hear it all the time.
So how can you say it in a
way that makes people go,
I didn't think about it that way.
When do I get out?
Aunt Vi,
I did my time.
When am I done?
One of the things that I want
people to learn and experience
through Ralph Angel's journey
is to know someone who
was formerly incarcerated,
to believe them
when they are moving forward
in the world in a new way,
to support them in that,
and to be able to applaud them
and cheer them on,
to get rid of that stigma, to really
allow folks to be more than the
worst thing that they've done.
I was in prison.
You know what prison is?
Where Black people go.
Are you a bad person, Pop?
No, I'm not a bad person.
I did some bad things.
I think one of the
things that we should look at
when we think about incarceration
is these aren't statistics.
These are people with real life
circumstances and experiences
and stories to tell.
"Ralph Angel Bordelon,
on behalf of the state of Louisiana
and the Board of Probation and Parole,
this letter serves you as
your official notice.
Parole period for Ralph
Angel Bordelon concluded
on May 13th of this year.
No further obligations in connection
with the below listed conviction
are due to the state of Louisiana."
AVA DUVERNAY: And when we don't
make them invisible statistics,
and we actually listen
and learn and lean in
to what has happened to them
and what is happening to them,
we become a better society,
a better culture, a better people,
and everything kind of rises.
[SIRENS]
Let me see your registration now.
AVA DUVERNAY: In season two, where
he is stopped by the police
and is assaulted,
harassed by an officer, and
really traumatized by it,
we wanted to make sure
that this wasn't just
a very special episode of "Queen Sugar."
We don't do that.
So we plotted out that storyline
going over multiple seasons.
He put me in the back
with cuffs on, right?
He drove past the police station.
He said we were going for a ride.
AVA DUVERNAY: When you
have a dramatic interaction
with police, it leaves a
scar that doesn't heal.
It changes the way you see the world.
It changes your relationship
to safety, to defense.
I'm just tired of it.
We can never get so
tired we started letting
other folks tell us who we are.
- You hear me?
- Yes, sir.
You keep your head up.
Don't let them put you in
that place, that dark place.
You keep living, loving, growing
and doing for others, that's the key.
AVA DUVERNAY: People
would tell me how they feel about
Nova and Charley.
They want to ask, is
Darla going to be OK?
They love this family.
Hi, Ava. "Queen Sugar" superfan here.
So one question that I would
like to know, from up high,
all the way down to Boo, these
characters are very relatable.
What was your thought
process in developing
them and their storylines?
And were they inspired by
people in your own life?
Let us know.
Yeah.
Almost everyone on
"Queen Sugar" is inspired
by someone that I know.
The beautiful thing about
the family in "Queen Sugar"
is all of them represent
a different segment
of black cultural life.
And so the goal is to have
someone on "Queen Sugar,"
both the core family and the
other people that we bring in,
that we feel touches
every aspect of Black culture.
That's our goal.
And by the time we get
through the end of the run,
whenever that will be,
that everyone will be able to say,
I see a little bit of myself in there,
if you are Black and live in America,
because this is an
homage to Black family,
to Black community, and it is for us.
One of the gifts of my life
is being an artist who's
been allowed to make things that people
have consumed on a mass level.
So here is to Michael
West, a beloved son.
And nephew. [LAUGHS]
Yeah.
You have so much to give the world.
Congrats, baby.
- Cheers.
- Cheers.
Cheers.
AVA DUVERNAY: The people
would tell me how they
feel about Nova and Charley.
They want to ask, is
Darla going to be OK?
They love this family.
They want to be friends
with Vi and Hollywood
and go over to the house and get
some food and go to Vi's Pies.
They've become a part of
their lived experience.
You get to see people
that you love and you know
and you root for.
"Queen Sugar" is real.
We're talking real stuff.
We are literally holding a mirror up
and our audience is seeing
themselves, and seeing
themselves in a way that you
haven't seen on television,
and it feels good to see yourself.
We see every shade of skin tone.
We see every walk of life.
And we see it celebrated.
Everybody say congratulations
to Councilwoman Bordelon.
[CHEERING]
I think that people
gravitate toward them
because they have these layers
and these dimensions that
are included.
They don't have to be perfect.
They don't have to be one thing.
They can be contradictions and
flawed and beautifully human.
If there's one thing that
Charley walks with that
is unlike any other woman I've played,
it's complete trust in herself.
When you come for me and
the people of St. Joe,
you better not miss, and you missed.
I think in this time, exactly
who we need to be seeing
on screen is a trailblazer,
someone who is unafraid to
take on spaces that she
isn't necessarily welcome.
Charley.
I say this out of love.
Your mama made you a control freak.
She did.
But you have a blank slate,
with yourself and with Micah.
Just being a leading,
dark-skinned woman of color
in a show like this,
you don't see a lot.
Also, maybe I think we don't
see Black journalists a lot
in that world.
I meet a lot of people who are
very much Novas in the world
and have said, I've
never seen myself on TV.
You go through your whole
life knowing exactly
why you're the way you are.
And then you get one
new piece of the puzzle
and the whole picture changes.
Because I've gotten a lot of chocolate
little girls that come up to me
and say, you look like my mom,
or you remind me of
And it gets me all choked up.
A lot of times as a kid, I
didn't have examples on TV,
so I had to like dream it up.
But as soon as I started seeing
Viola Davis and Angela Bassett,
I was like, oh.
I should have discussed
what I was doing with you,
with everyone.
I got your blessing.
And if I had said no, don't
do it, would you have listened?
Violet is an important
addition to television
because there's so many
Violets in the world,
and television doesn't usually share
that woman's life in the way
that Violet is representing it.
A lot of times, when you see
Black mamas on TV or in film,
especially when it's not
done by Black people,
they're going to be the old Black mama.
Now, old Black mamas are fine, but
most Black moms are still fine.
And Vi is a hat tip, a
genuflection, and a bow
with a flourish to these women.
Just by virtue of her presence,
there's all of these women
that are being able to imagine
themselves as fully alive,
still having the right to dream,
imagining themselves
in love late in life.
She's exciting because she gives
permission to women over 50
and above.
But family is family, and now we are.
Thank you, Ms. Vi.
There's something about showing
the humanity, as you say,
of addiction and the reality of it.
And it's not in some
exaggerated, super heightened,
melodramatic way, but it's
like the real day-to-day basic
details of just what it is
to get through each moment,
get through each day in
a real time feeling way.
How are you doing?
I'm, um, I'm feeling stable and helpful.
My main question that I get
so, so often on the street,
on social media, especially
in seasons three and four,
were please don't let
anything happen to Darla.
Please don't let her backslide.
Please keep her on the
straight and narrow.
Please keep her safe and healthy.
People have really come
to be attached to her.
The fragility that Bianca
Lawson brings to the character
is something that has really
resonated with people.
I was at the airport in Houston
and a woman came up to
me, and she was like,
does anyone ever tell you
you look just like Darla?
And I was like, actually, I'm Darla.
She's like, oh my god.
I am Darla.
That is my story.
And I haven't seen it told
in television that way,
in such a realistic way.
Dear God, help me make the best
use of what is in my power.
It's just been an honor to be
in people's homes in that way.
I remember saying to him,
I don't think your life's
going to be the same
after you do this part, because
I'm making him my dream man.
My name is Rochelle and
I live in Los Angeles,
and "Queen Sugar" is my favorite show.
I just want to know, what was one
of the more emotionally
challenging scenes
that you had to film, and why?
Thank you.
Well, thank you for watching.
There's so many, my goodness.
I shot the episode where Ernest
passes away in the hospital bed
on episode one, season one.
One of the hardest
things I've ever shot
It was the first time that
I ever cried after a take.
It's a very deeply emotional
scene, for me deeply personal,
and it was the hardest thing
I think I've ever shot.
And I'm so happy that I
did and that it's on film
to be shared with folks.
I think it means a lot
to a lot of people,
and it was a real honor to shoot it.
Amen, brother Ernest.
May you rest in peace.
And then I keep saying,
I don't need this fuss.
Well, you're about to get one right now.
Surprise.
[LAUGHS]
The Hollywood and Vi relationship
is just extremely important.
We have to see this love,
no matter Black love,
or people in their 40s, 50s,
60s, or whatever, it's really
good to show two people who
are so supportive of each other
and will uplift each other.
Oh, we needed this, baby.
No Diana.
No family. Just us.
I don't remember the last
time I was this relaxed.
Omar Dorsey and I met and
became friends on "Selma."
Then I asked him to do "Queen Sugar."
And I said to him, I
remember saying to him,
I don't think your life's going to be
the same after you do
this part, because I'm
making him my dream man.
I knew.
I knew you were going
to take it too far.
I knew you were.
What I like most about Hollywood
is just the way that he treats his lady.
It's this southern gentleman.
It's this blue collar, hard-working man,
what I always envisioned
what a man should be.
Oh, man, I ain't never had
nothing like you in my life.
TINA LIFFORD: She is in love in a way
that she never imagined
would be her possibility,
and she's loving every minute of it.
Where are you going?
I am a lady and it is time
for me to do my lady things.
Then I'm coming back, and when I do,
I do not intend to be a lady.
Hollywood's my man, and he's always
fighting for our relationship.
I'm not fighting against him, but he's
still always fighting for it in a way
that just makes you swoon.
I done left my job to be with you.
Does that sound like somebody
who doesn't want to be with you
for the rest of their life?
I love the character.
Omar plays it perfectly.
But he is unconditional love and support
within the realm of
traditional Black masculinity.
I just wanted to show a Black
man because I know them.
I know them.
My father was one who
just loves his woman.
You have to ask yourself if
tomorrows are for other folk.
I really admire Oprah for
seeing a void in television
and seeing a void in representation
and filling that void very simply.
Just like that.
That's what I'm talking about, buddy.
I think what's really
extraordinary about Darla
and Ralph Angel is there's
something very real
about the relationship to me.
Because it's not a
simplistic, idealized fantasy.
They really get into the depths
and the dirt and the darkness
and the light, everything.
Maybe you'll see things
differently if you hear me out.
I'm listening.
Darla and Ralph Angel,
their whole relationship
is just so dimensional.
There's so many micro
worlds within this one,
I guess, macro love, from Blue
to who they are as individuals,
who they are together, who they were,
and now these parents
they've grown into.
I would still choose
you, 100 times over,
just like your daddy.
The love story of
the series, some people
think it's Charley and Davis.
Some people think it's Micah and KeKe.
Some people think it's
Violet and Hollywood
or Calvin and Nova.
It's not even Ralph Angel and Darla.
It is Ralph Angel and Blue.
That's my boy.
AVA DUVERNAY: From the
very, very first scene of them
is Ralph Angel's dogged
determined, dynamic, radical
love for his son.
That has taken us as creators, artists,
and the viewers and fans of
the show, on quite a ride.
We've been able to
explore Black fatherhood
in ways that are very exciting
to me, very important to me.
Close your eyes.
All right.
OK, are can open them.
You like it?
Nah, I love it.
It's one of Aunt Vi's pies.
I'm proud of it.
You should be proud of it.
AVA DUVERNAY: That central relationship
is such a pleasure to create, to write,
to direct, to produce, to edit.
I love any scene with the two of them.
And that bond is really
sacred for all of us
who work on "Queen Sugar."
In the midst of a year unlike any other,
it felt like we had to
stop and do whatever
we could to tell the story.
My name is Billye Moutra
and I am a (SINGING)
Huge fan of "Queen Sugar."
Ava, you are a visionary
and you have opened up
so many doors for
women and women of color
with "Queen Sugar."
Women are our future.
Do you believe that this
will be a stepping stone
for the entertainment
industry, and maybe they
will take heed and do
something about their lack
of representation?
Well, love her.
Thank you, Billye.
I don't know what the
industry is going to do.
We can lead by example.
We can handle and take
care of ourselves.
We do that on all of our
[INAUDIBLE] productions.
And so we're doing it.
If other people want
to follow, they can.
If they want to ask us how we
do it, we're here to tell them.
Well, I'm so proud of our
"Queen Sugar" directorial team.
I'll get emotional if I'm not careful,
so I'll be very careful.
Most of the women who
directed "Queen Sugar"
over the past five seasons,
it was their first episode
of television.
They come from different walks of life,
but they were ready, in my opinion,
and I handpicked them all to direct.
Victoria Mahoney became the first woman
to ever touch a camera on
the "Star Wars" franchise,
and her first episode of
television was "Queen Sugar."
Salli Richardson-Whitfield,
she starred in my first movie,
"I Will Follow."
I said, you should direct.
Now she's got this massive deal at HBO.
She's directed over 13 different series.
Amanda Marsalis was an
independent filmmaker.
She's gone on to direct
"Westworld" and "Ozark."
DeMane Davis, she was doing commercials.
Now she's the producer
and director on "Clarice,"
the big CBS shows.
Kat Candler was an
independent film director who
I was friends with at Sundance.
She ended up directing
episodes, eventually becoming
the producing director, and eventually
becoming the show runner.
This season, there are
three women directors.
Only three women directors directed
all 10 episodes of this
season of "Queen Sugar"
Lisa France, Lauren
Wolkstein, and Cierra Glaude.
So the journey with all these
women and more, so many more,
has been spectacular.
It's one of the things
I'm most proud of.
And I have worked really hard
with all of the producing team
to say, we're going to make a set where
crew members can look around
and see other people who
look like them.
If you're a woman, you're
going to see other women.
If you are Black, you're going
to see other Black folks
Brown folks, Asian, Middle
Eastern, across the board,
making sure that our crews
reflect the real world.
I think that's the
beauty of "Queen Sugar."
It's just reflective.
In the most simple ways,
it's showing people dealing
with everyday situations,
family situations,
personal identity situations.
And it just makes it so presentable.
Together, we will reclaim our parish.
We are St. Josephine's parish
in the grand state of Louisiana,
and we ain't going anywhere.
[CHEERING]
Our show is about a Black family
in a very specific place.
And it was a lost opportunity
if we went ahead and used
the scripts that we had for season five
and shot them in the midst
of a year unlike any other.
It felt like we had to stop and
do whatever we could to tell
the story, but it took the
studio and the network,
Warner Brothers and OWN, to say,
OK, if you think you can do it.
Because there wasn't a lot of time.
Paul Garnes and I, my
producing partner, my writer, Di,
we had big ideas about how we
wanted to do this, a whole
different shooting style
How we would keep the crew
and cars safe in COVID,
and basically creating this
kind of "Queen Sugar" hotel.
We had so many ideas about
the way we'd pull it off,
it really took a well-oiled
machine to put together.
It took a lot of faith
all of our partners,
and I'm really grateful to them.
I think the season's quite special.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
You're about to see an exclusive
clip from "Queen Sugar," one
of my favorite little scenes.
Nothing huge is going on,
but this is in episode one,
and it teases what's to
come, because this season,
we're going to be able to
finally see Ralph Angel
and Darla happy for a little while.
Isn't that going to be nice?
Rise and shine, Mommy.
Rise and shine.
Breakfast in bed.
The fourth time this week.
You're spoiling me.
You both are.
I got the toast right this time.
Taste.
- OK.
- Go ahead and taste that.
Mm.
- It's very good.
- Yes.
It's very good.
Somebody's got to get ready for school.
I got to drop you off
for the family's big day.
Every day is a big day
now that Mom is here.
That's right.
- Bye.
- Bye.
You know that toast is burnt.
[COUGHING]
Why do you lie to that boy?
Come here.
[INAUDIBLE]
I'm happy.
Me, too, especially today.
The goal is to make sure
that we can change our space
and create an autonomous zone,
where we can tell our
stories with agency
and with love and with depth.
And we're doing that,
now five seasons strong.
And are grateful to
everyone who's watched
and made that possible.
My favorite character,
personally, is Ralph Angel.
We wouldn't be able to do
it without you, so much love.
Well, my favorite character is Nova.
I'm like, our fans
are very enthusiastic.
[LAUGHS]
The person that resonated
with me the most is Aunt Violet.
We thank you so much for
tuning in and letting us know.
My favorite character on "Queen Sugar"
is Charley Bordelon.
We love you, and thank you.