May 16, 2025
The New Blackity Black soap opera is making waves—and instilling hope.
Beyond The Gates, the first soap opera to feature a majority Black cast since 1991, has been renewed for a second season.
The show premiered in February and averaged 2.28 million cross-platform viewers in its first week.
Darnell Williams, who played Jesse Hubbard on ABC’s All My Children from 1981 to 1987, said he is hopeful the show can provide more opportunities for Black actors.
Meanwhile, Veronica Redd played Mamie Johnson on The Young and the Restless.” Redd said she was both surprised and impressed with the show’s first season.”
“I was not prepared,” she told the Associated Press about the opening episode, which starts with a woman driving a Mercedes-Benz through the gates of a country club while “Best of My Love” by the Emotions played in the background.
“They got me hooked,” Redd said.
The show is a joint venture between CBS Studios and the NAACP, in partnership with P&G Studios. It tells the story of the Duprees, an affluent and influential family living in one of Washington, D.C’s most posh suburbs. Underneath the prestige lies a web of family secrets and unscrupulous endeavors.
Michelle Val Jean, show creator, showrunner, and executive producer, said she wanted to create a project that features some of the genre’s most loyal viewers.
“Black women are big soap opera viewers. I grew up in a soap opera-watching family. My grandmother watched. My mother watched. But one of the things that troubled me was that there weren’t many people that looked like me. There was an occasional best friend. Sometimes a family would come in and go out. I didn’t see people who looked like me driving the story. I think a lot of Black women felt that way, “ she told Soap Opera Central.
Beyond the Gates CBS airs weekdays on CBS at 2 p.m. EST. It’s also available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+ and CBS TV.
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