--- description: Queen Sugar, arguably the longest-running African American family drama in history, has revolutionized TV, both in its storylines and in its off-screen hiring practices. title: How 'Queen Sugar' Revolutionized TV—On and Off the Screen image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt34e63593322163c2/698a3824cabb1d0ecde50ef4/QUEEN-SUGAR_REV1-1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Television](/tag/television/) ## Television Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Remarkable Legacy of _Queen Sugar_ ## Video: Queen Sugar | Official Trailer | Oprah Winfrey Network [Watch (HLS stream): Queen Sugar | Official Trailer | Oprah Winfrey Network](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qI3d12su.m3u8) (2:07)  _Published 2022-11-28. The contemporary drama “Queen Sugar” chronicles the lives and loves of the estranged Bordelon siblings in Saint Josephine, Louisiana: Nova (Rutina Wesley “True Blood”), a world-wide journalist and activist; Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner “Unforgettable”), the savvy wife and manager of an NBA star; and Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe “Awkward”), a formerly incarcerated young father in search of redemption. After a family tragedy, the Bordelons must navigate the triumphs and struggles of their complicated lives in order to run an ailing sugarcane farm in the Deep South. Led by acclaimed film director DuVernay, who directed the first two episodes, all episodes in the series’ debut season are directed by women. “Queen Sugar” is produced for OWN by Warner Horizon Television. The executive producers are Ava DuVernay, Melissa Carter and Oprah Winfrey._ by [Tanisha C. Ford](/author/tanisha-c-ford/) ## Tanisha C. Ford Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 28, 2022 5:15 PM CUT  Illustration by Charles Chaisson for TIME by [Tanisha C. Ford](/author/tanisha-c-ford/) ## Tanisha C. Ford Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 28, 2022 5:15 PM CUT The New Orleans set of [_Queen Sugar_](https://time.com/4828106/an-onscreen-family-raising-cane/ "undefined") is buzzing with energy. It’s a relentlessly humid July day, and creator [Ava DuVernay](https://time.com/collection/firsts/4899130/ava-duvernay-firsts/ "undefined") has returned to direct the series finale, which will air on Nov. 29, her first time helming an episode since its [debut season](https://time.com/4476768/best-fall-tv-pilots/ "undefined"), in 2016\. DuVernay yells “Cut!” and rises from her chair, moving nimbly through the immaculately decorated living room of the show’s central character, Nova Bordelon (Rutina Wesley). DuVernay converses with camera operators and grips. She positions props to her liking. Her light but authoritative touch is on everything from scripts to wardrobe. She finally stops in front of the couch where Wesley lies under a thick blanket, adjusting it to ensure that the actor’s striking face isn’t obscured. They talk briefly about the scene. “We have an unspoken language,” Wesley tells me later. “Ava would speak to me through her pen, and then I would respond with my work.” To watch DuVernay in action is to understand her creative process on a deeper level. Later she will tell me that she likes to film many takes of the same scene—“collecting my toys,” she calls it—so she has options in the editing room. She’s looking for emotive glances, subtle shifts in posture, the “gentle moments” that characterize _Queen Sugar_’s intimate storytelling. The Juilliard-trained Wesley is a master at this kind of emotional dexterity. She begins delivering the last words Nova Bordelon will ever utter. As the crew looks on, they seem to carry the bittersweet knowledge that the series into which they’ve poured so much is coming to an end after seven seasons. _Queen Sugar,_ arguably the longest-running African American family drama in history, has revolutionized TV. DuVernay and executive producer [Oprah Winfrey](https://time.com/4455910/oprah-winfrey-ava-duvernay-diversity/ "undefined") [charted a path](https://time.com/3692667/oprah-ava-duvernay-selma-own/ "undefined") for the show on OWN. It averaged more than a million weekly viewers in its first seasons—a major feat for a boutique cable network during the rise of streaming. African American viewers were hungry for a show that authentically depicted the lives of everyday Black people, that didn’t pathologize them or shroud them under a veil of respectability. The nuanced characters, lighting that celebrated the beauty of melanated skin, and soulful soundtrack galvanized a legion of Twitter fans who shared their commentary using #gimmiesugar. DuVernay and members of the cast and crew joined in, mirroring the type of community the show itself exemplified. **Read more:** [_Ava DuVernay on What Gives Her Hope_](https://time.com/5087372/ava-duvernay-on-what-gives-her-hope/ "undefined") Onscreen, the show advanced story lines about labor exploitation and the carceral state; transgender rights and the Movement for Black Lives. Behind the camera, it has been shaped by DuVernay’s inclusive politics of collaboration. She’s created opportunities for hundreds of talented actors, directors, line producers, prop masters, and costume designers, many of them New Orleans natives. Her commitment to partnering with those who’ve historically been marginalized in the industry places her and Winfrey at the vanguard alongside other Black creatives fighting for lasting change in Hollywood.  Kofi Siriboe, Rutina Wesley and Dawn-Lyen Gardner on 'Queen Sugar' OWN **_Queen Sugar_** **the show would** not exist without _Queen Sugar_ the novel, and _Queen Sugar_ the novel might never have been put in front of DuVernay if not for Winfrey. And not just casually put in front of her: Winfrey was so determined for DuVernay to read Natalie Baszile’s 2014 book, about a woman who inherits an 800-acre family farm in rural Louisiana, that during the director’s stay at Winfrey’s Maui estate in 2014, the host placed copies of _Queen Sugar_ in Ava’s room, at the kitchen table, on the porch. DuVernay finally devoured it, so inspired that she wrote the treatment for the television show on the flight back to Los Angeles. When it came time to write the pilot, Winfrey encouraged DuVernay to let the book go and filter what she’d read through her own imagination and her own family’s Southern roots. Taking this note, DuVernay conjured magic, creating the Nova Bordelon character, who didn’t exist in the book but became the show’s spiritual anchor. She fleshed out the fictional milieu of St. Josephine, La. And while this worldmaking allowed DuVernay to tackle salient social issues, at its core, _Queen Sugar_ is a show about the power and possibilities of Black love: familial love, romantic love, and love for one’s community. There is the love story between Darla and Ralph Angel, who piece their lives together after battles with addiction and incarceration. Mature Black women appreciated the May-December romance between Violet Bordelon and her devoted husband Hollywood Desonier. Seeing Nova bring her bourgeois sister Charley and nephew Micah deeper into the Movement for Black Lives acknowledged the rich history of grassroots community activism across the South. --- ### More from TIME --- Winfrey unilaterally greenlighted the show for OWN. “I didn’t give it any thought,” she told me over the phone. “All of the great things I’ve ever done have come out of feeling and instinct.” Winfrey had launched OWN in 2011—a peak moment in TV’s golden era—to break new ground and support new talent. This golden age may have been in full swing ever since Tony Soprano took a seat in his therapist’s office, but the vestiges of Jim Crow segregation in the industry made it difficult for Black showrunners and executives to seize the moment. By the 2010s, some had busted through, producing shows across genre—_Scandal,_ _Being Mary Jane,_ _Empire,_ _Power,_ _Black-ish_—about multi-faceted African American characters who defied stereotypes. Shonda Rhimes, Issa Rae, Donald Glover, Lena Waithe, Kenya Barris, Lee Daniels, Courtney A. Kemp, Mara Brock Akil became voices of the so-called Black TV renaissance. When Winfrey bet on DuVernay, she was putting her money on an untested creator who had directed only one episode of TV (for _Scandal_). This was after indie films had established her reputation as a bold storyteller with cinematic vision, but before Oscar nominations for _Selma_ and an Emmy for [_13th_](https://time.com/4662871/ava-duvernay-13th-documentary-interview/ "undefined")_,_ before she was a [household name](https://time.com/4438223/ava-duvernay-100-million-film/ "undefined"). It is virtually unheard-of for a first-time creator to have a project greenlighted from a pilot script, and even rarer that the decision is made without a committee of high-level studio executives. But Winfrey had amassed considerable power, and she leveraged it to open the door for DuVernay.  Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Ava DuVernay, Kofi Siriboe and Rutina Wesley on May 20, 2018 in New York City Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images **DuVernay vowed to keep** **that** door open for others. She proposed to Winfrey that they hire only women to direct the show. That one decision established a creative ethos for _Queen Sugar_ while helping transform industry hiring practices. “I give all, _all_ praise to \[Ava\],” Winfrey says. At the time, women directors—especially Black women and other women of color—who wanted to break into episodic television were stymied by retrograde industry norms that granted men the most prestigious jobs. This created a maddening paradox: women couldn’t get hired if they didn’t have the experience, and they couldn’t gain the experience without getting hired. Of the 42 women recruited to direct _Queen Sugar,_ 39 had never directed an episodic series in the U.S. “Ava handpicked all of us,” says Shaz Bennett, who has directed, written, and served as the Season 7 showrunner. “From the beginning, \[Ava\] would say, ‘Watch the show, and get the feeling of it, but I want you to bring your skill to this.’” Each director’s creative bent brought an emotional texture that enhanced what Bennett describes as _Queen Sugar_’s “beautiful feminine gaze.” **Read more:** [_24 Essential Works of Black Cinema Recommended by Black Directors_](https://time.com/5874175/black-cinema-essential-movies/ "undefined") The show counts among its alumnae Victoria Mahoney, Aurora Guerrero, Amanda Marsalis, and DeMane Davis, who’ve all gone on to have stellar careers in TV—Mahoney went on to direct for [_Lovecraft Country_](https://time.com/5877205/lovecraft-country-hbo-review/ "undefined") and [_The Morning Show_](https://time.com/5711100/morning-show-review-apple-tv-plus/ "undefined")_,_ Marsalis for [_Westworld_](https://time.com/5795621/westworld-season-4/ "undefined") and [_Ozark_](https://time.com/6172614/julia-garner-ozark-final-season-interview/ "undefined")_—_and their successes reflect those of their peers. Pioneering indie filmmaker Julie Dash, who had never directed a scripted series, had her TV career jump-started. “It’s changed the way people look at women directors,” says Bennett. “Now if you don’t have women directors on your roster, it’s like, ‘You haven’t even been looking.’” DuVernay is proud to see the women and people of color who’ve made up _Queen Sugar_’s production team parlay that big break into other high-profile opportunities. But she told me what matters most to her is being intentional about leveling the playing field. “_Queen Sugar_ has been my second job for six years,” DuVernay told me when I visited the set. She’s juggled _Sugar_ while directing other projects, including [_A Wrinkle in Time_](https://time.com/wrinkle-in-time/ "undefined") and [_When They See Us_](https://time.com/5592163/when-they-see-us-netflix-ava-duvernay/ "undefined")_,_ while also distributing films by underrepresented directors through her independent production company, ARRAY Filmworks. Now _Queen Sugar_ is ending on her terms. “It feels complete,” she says. I looked around the set at Nova’s bungalow, Aunt Vi’s diner, and the Bordelons’ farmhouse, and realized I was standing in the brick-and-mortar manifestation of [DuVernay’s imagination](https://time.com/optimists-videos/ "undefined"). She had dreamed this world and collaborated with people who could help her make it a reality. More than anything, I could feel the love between cast and crew, and the palpable spirit of creative excellence that captivated viewers week after week. 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