05x00 - Never Let Go

Episode transcripts for the 2016 TV show "Queen Sugar" Aired September 2016 - current.*
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"Queen Sugar" follows the life of two sisters, one a formidable journalist & activist from New Orleans, and the other a modern woman, who, with her teenage son Micah, leaves her upscale apartment in Los Angeles and moves to the heart of Louisiana to claim an inheritance from her recently departed father: an 800-acre sugarcane farm.
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05x00 - Never Let Go

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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 ...

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 sh*t 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 sh*t 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 sh**t it.

I was like, OK.

And she came that day.

We sh*t 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 sh**ting them both.

And it's been challenging not to sh**t 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 % 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 %?

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 w*r 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 n*gro 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 th 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 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 sh*t the episode where Ernest passes away in the hospital bed on episode one, season one.

One of the hardest things I've ever sh*t...

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 sh*t.

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 sh**t 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 s, s, s, 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, 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 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 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 sh*t 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 sh**ting 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.
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