What can viewers expect in season 2 of BET’s Boomerang? Lena Waithe, who is executive producing the series along with Halle Berry, sums it up in two words.
“Emotional roll-er-coast-er,” Waithe recently told Urban Hollywood 411 at the season 2 premiere on the Paramount Studios lot in Los Angeles. “That’s what you can expect. It’s so artfully done.”
Waithe, clad in a plaid, peach-colored blazer, noted that she stepped back a bit this season while filmmaker Dime Davis (The Chi, Boomerang season 1) and producer/writer Angeli Millan (The Cleveland Show and Us) took the reins as the season’s co-showrunners.
“They really just do something very beautiful, very interesting, but still really funny and entertaining,” Waithe said. “I guess it’s something you don’t expect from this show. We’re really carrying on the legacy of black artists doing really cool, interesting work by just taking chances.”
Related Story: NAACP Image Awards See Huge Ratings Increase After Move to BET
The series is based on the groundbreaking 1992 feature film by the same name from Reginald Hudlin. The romantic comedy starred Eddie Murphy, Robin Givens and Berry. In the film, Murphy played cocky marketing executive Marcus Graham while Givens portrayed his femme fatale boss, Jacqueline Broyer. Berry played Angela, one of Graham’s love interests.
The new series follows the professional and personal lives of Jacqueline’s son, Bryson (Tequan Richmond) and Marcus and Angela’s daughter, Simone (Tetona Jackson), as they aim to forge their own legacy distinct from that of their high-powered parents.
Waithe, 35, said she was interested in becoming involved in the series that Paramount Television and BET had teamed up on because she wanted to pay homage to the film and “do right by it.”
“I didn’t want it to be some wack TV show,” she admitted. “And I made sure I surrounded myself with amazing people and I really feel like we got something special.”
This season’s guest stars will include Kim Wayans, Jaleel White and Walter Emanuel Jones. Meanwhile, actors Leland B. Martin (Ari), RJ Walker (David), Brittany Inge (Crystal) and Lala Milan (Tia) are returning as series regulars.
The premiere took place in Los Angeles on March 10, just before the city shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak. Among those attending were some of the original cast of the 1992 film, including Martin Lawrence.
“They just have been really grateful,” Waithe said when asked what the original stars have to say about the series. “They just never thought that the movie would mean so much to so many of us.”
Waithe said she called Lawrence and personally invited him to the premiere.
“Because one, we met and he shared that he was a fan and I said ‘I’m doing what I’m doing because of you,’” she recalled. “To me, we need more moments like this where we can really like shed light on those that came before us, that you know, paved the way, that we’re here just to give him his flowers.”
This season is being directed exclusively by women of color. Boomerang airs Wednesday nights on BET.
