How the Duprees connect the entire canvas of Beyond the Gates

We're less than a month away from the series premiere of the groundbreaking drama Beyond the Gates, which premieres on CBS' daytime lineup on February 24th. CBS recently released a nearly two-minute video giving us a much more comprehensive sneak peek of what to expect on the first new soap to debut since Passions in 1999.

The Duprees rule over all on Beyond the Gates

The main family of Beyond the Gates, of course, is the Duprees — and while we've already given you an appetite-whetting taste of who this core clan is, it's time to go deeper because their reputation as Black royalty in this fictional version of Washington D.C. is not an underserved one. In one way or another, they touch all of the other 16 characters we currently know of. Ready to dive into a dossier of the Duprees?

The leading man and lady of the posh, gated community of Fairmont Crest are Vernon Dupree (Clifton Davis) and his wife, Anita Dupree (Tamara Tunie). Vernon is a retired senator, whose storied career inspired his young grandson, Martin Richardson (Brandon Claybon) to become a congressman. Martin aspires to be the first openly gay Black president; his supportive but frustrated husband is Bradley “Smitty” Smith (Mike Manning), who loves taking care of their adopted children but wants to return to his career as a political journalist.

The Duprees had a son-in-law in hotshot lawyer Bill Hamilton (Timon Kyle Durrett), at least until Bill left their daughter, Dani (Karla Mosley), for his paralegal, Hayley Lawson (Marquita Goings). Dani wants to destroy Bill and Hayley's new relationship, while Anita has been imploring Dani to channel her inner Dupree and rise above.

Anita has a special bond with her granddaughter, Naomi Hamilton (Arielle Prepetit), as Naomi is the only one in the family who inherited Anita's vocal talents; Anita once had a successful recording career. Naomi is married to detective Jacob Hawthorne (Jibre Hordges), whose best friend is fireman Derek Baldwin (Ben Gavin). Derek's girlfriend, Ashley Morgan (Jen Jacob), is a nurse. Naomi has a best friend, too – realtor Vanessa McBride (Lauren Buglioli), who is also Dani's neighbor.

The Duprees have another grandchild, successful model Chelsea Hamilton (RhonniRose Mantilla). Chelsea would rather design purses and enjoy her position as a social media influencer than pose for photographer Andre Hamilton (Sean Freeman) — except Chelsea's career is being run by mother Dani, who abandoned her own modeling hopes to raise a family and is living vicariously through Chelsea.

Nicole (Daphnée Duplaix) is the Duprees' other daughter, an ambitious psychiatrist whose perfect life may be nothing more than a façade. Nicole is aided by her dedicated assistant, Eva Thomas (Ambyr Michelle), whose intensity belies concern for her mentally unstable mother, Dana “Leslie” Thomas (Tricia Mann-Grant). Nicole is married to plastic-surgeon-with-a-past, Ted Richardson (Maurice Johnson). Together, they raised Andre, whose parents were both killed, alongside Martin and his sister Katherine “Kat” Richardson (Colby Muhammad), an elusive brat who's caught the eye of attorney Tomas “Tom” Navarro (Alex Alegria).

Got all that? In less than four weeks, we'll begin to see how all the aforementioned puzzle pieces truly fit together — but there's no doubt that it's the Duprees who will rule this particular roost. Study up further on these denizens of D.C.— the Richardsons, the Hamiltons, and all the other fascinating new characters — and also check out our coverage of the cast interviews and behind-the-scenes goodness released by CBS News Sunday Morning last week.

We'll keep you up to date with new info about Beyond the Gates as soon as we get our hands on it — and this soap gets rolling, we'll be your go-to source for recaps, character profiles, and more!

Beyond the Gates premieres Monday, February 24, and will both air on CBS and stream on Paramount Plus.