‘BMF’ Villain Henri Is Fighting ‘For Approval,’ Actress Ren King Says (Video)

Ren King (Credit: Urban Hollywood 411)

BMF has its share of villains, but sword-wielding Henrietta “Henri” Andreas takes the drama to another level.

Ren King plays the terrifying — and polarizing — drug dealer, who makes it a habit of slashing throats, using a flamethrower on rivals, and ambushing anyone with ties to the Black Mafia Family.

New to season 3, Henri is the daughter of crime boss Frank “Blaze” Andreas, played by veteran actor Christopher B. Duncan.

Related StoryHow ‘BMF’ Keeps Season 3 Strip Club Scenes Steamy and Safe

Now that Henri has landed in the crosshairs of Meech, Terry and Detective Bryant, we have a feeling the dealer’s days are numbered.

For the scoop on Blaze and Henri’s father-daughter dynamic, Urban Hollywood 411 hopped on a Zoom call with actors Ren King and Christopher B. Duncan. The below interview has been edited for content and clarity.

UB411: You’re coming into an established show? What’s that been like?

Ren King: It’s kind of like being the new kid in school. You show up and everybody is kind of like, ‘Oh, you know how class goes, you know how this school goes, but hey we’re gonna let you in. We’re gonna tell you how things are gonna go, here’s how we do this’… It feels very familial, joining into the family, it felt like kind of being married, you know, when people get married and the families blend, you meet the in-laws, you meet the cousins, you meet everybody. That’s kind of how it felt for me.

Christopher B. Duncan: It was smooth sailing for me in the sense that I felt welcomed by the cast. And in fact, what helped is I’ve known Russell [Hornsby] and worked with Russell in the past. And I’ve known Michole [Briana White], who plays Lucille, his wife on the show. I’ve known Michole through the business for decades. We go way, way back. So yeah, it was really a smooth, wonderful process to just be accepted, supported.

Let’s talk about the gunplay, the knife play, it’s a lot.

Christopher B. Duncan: There’s nothing smooth about that [laughs].

Ren King: Shout out to props.

What’s it like playing father and child?

Christopher B. Duncan: We have this foundation of love as father and daughter. But it’s so complicated, because piled on top of that love is this powerful and difficult dynamic of blood versus business, because we’re dealing with both. And when you add those two factors to this father-daughter dynamic, I’m the kingpin, I’m old school. Henri’s coming up the ladder wanting to be a boss. And yet her approaches to doing that don’t coincide with what I feel is effective. So now you have a serious set-up for problems.

Ren King: Henri fights so much to find the approval of her father, in that child and parent dynamic and the need for the child to have a sense of belonging in the home, to feel like they can be able to be vulnerable with the parents. Throughout the entire season, we see how the interpersonal relationships between Blaze and Henri translates in the business and how they’re still sticky, even just outside. It feels like on individual personal levels, there’s a butting of heads in terms of their own individual understanding of how things should be or how things could be.

[Watch the interview below]

BMF is inspired by the true story of Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and his brother Terry “Southwest T” Flenory.

The two siblings rose from the streets of Detroit in the late 1980s to create the Black Mafia Family — one of the most influential drug rings in the U.S., until the feds took them down.

Season 3 is set in the early ’90s, as Meech (Demetrius Flenory Jr.) moves to Atlanta to expand the BMF empire in the South. Terry (Da’Vinchi) stays back in Detroit to hold the business down, while juggling a pregnant ex-girlfriend and a married new lover.

The cast also includes Russell Hornsby as “Charles Flenory,” Michole Briana White as “Lucille Flenory,” Steve Harris as “Detective Bryant,” Kelly Hu as “Detective Jin,” La La Anthony as “Markisha,” Sydney Mitchell as “LaWanda,” and Laila D. Pruitt as “Nicole Flenory.”

This week on episode 6, Meech travels to St. Louis solo to link up with J-Pusha after the gun battles with the MK’s and the Techwood Boyz in Atlanta. He hopes to also build business in St. Louis and to expand BMF. Terry returns to Detroit to welcome his newest addition to the family.

Detroit native Randy Huggins created the series, which debuted in 2021. Heather Zuhlke currently serves as showrunner, executive producer and is a writer on the series, which was just renewed for a fourth season.

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson serves as executive producer through his G-Unit Film and Television in association with Lionsgate Television for Starz. Additional executive producers include Anthony Wilson and Anne Clements.

New episodes of BMF drop Fridays at midnight on the Starz app. On TV, BMF airs Fridays at 8:00 PM ET/PT in the U.S. on Starz and at 9:00 PM ET in Canada.


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About Anita Bennett

Anita Bennett is the editor and founder of Urban Hollywood 411. She can be reached on Twitter @tvanita.