“A little secret,” Thede reveals, “Gabrielle and Ashley have not seen anything.” Thede and the show’s team are still wrapping up post-production on the “dense” six episodes that make up the new season and, while she can hardly contain her excitement for fans to see what they’ve cooked up, her co-stars are even more anxious. “Not that we didn’t have apprehension and fear. “I said ‘OK, we’re coming back,’ and I explained how we were going to do it, these women said ‘OK, let’s go,’” she recalls. But all credit goes to her cast and crew for staying the course, she says. Pointing to Black and Dennis, Thede adds, “What these women are doing on camera is nothing short of miraculous because it was absolutely during a whole global pandemic - the height of it - and they brought their A-game.”Īll the while, Thede, the writers and producing team were working with COVID compliance experts, figuring out how the show could go on safely. But due to pandemic-forced shifts in the schedule, Season 1 star Quinta Brunson was unable to appear in the new season, so now the cast consists of returning players Thede, Ashley Nicole Black and Gabrielle Dennis, alongside new featured players Laci Mosley and Skye Townsend.
Thede always set out to create a bigger and bolder version of the show that boasts all Black women in its core cast and writers’ room, and features two Black women (Lacey Duke and Brittany Scott Smith) directing the six-episode season. “All of that really challenged me as a showrunner,” Thede says, explaining that she’s been working on this season for about 18 months, maybe longer.