Michele Val Jean talks Beyond the Gates: 'Something that hasn't been done before' on soaps

Now that January is here, we can officially say the long-anticipated Beyond the Gates will make its debut next month. When word first broke that the first new daytime drama since Passions' 1999 premiere would become a reality as 2025 began, the soap world rejoiced. Not only were soaps getting a resurgence, but it would also be the first soap centered on an African-American family since 1989's short-lived Generations.

Beyond the Gates was years in the making

Beyond the Gates will be set in the posh gated community on Fairmont Crest, part of a Maryland suburb of Washington, DC. The Dupree family is at the heart of it all, led by patriarch Vernon Dupree (Clifton Davis) and his wife Anita Dupree (Tamara Tunie). Vernon, a retired senator, and Anita, a singer, have two daughters, Nicole (Daphne Duplaix) and Dani (Karla Mosley). Between the four of them and their extended family and friends, there is a whole lot of drama in store.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Beyond the Gates creator, executive producer, and head writer Michele Val Jean described the feeling of learning that her new project received the green light, noting that she never thought her idea would "ever see the light of day."

"When I started Generations there were 13 soaps on the air, now there are three and one on Peacock," Val Jean said.

Sheila Ducksworth, the CBS executive in charge of the network's partnership with the NAACP, was also amazed that the project she'd been trying to get off the ground for four years was going to make it to our TV screens.

"Nobody is making soaps anymore," Ducksworth said. "The courage and belief that there could be something new that hasn't been done in over a quarter of a century, it feels great that the people behind us recognized the need and wanted to make this happen."

Beyond the Gates brings a different soap world

Val Jean, who has been on the writing teams of Santa Barbara, General Hospital, and The Bold and the Beautiful, is bursting with pride at presenting a new kind of soap that offers a new take on Black characters.

"We wanted to have a show on the air that spoke to a different side of the Black experience," Val Jean said. "Not the downtrodden, not the ghettoized. We wanted to show rich, Black people doing messy things."

The Duprees will certainly bring a mess, and Val Jean can't wait, describing the family as such: "The Duprees, they don't always agree. But when push comes to shove, that family will stick together, right, wrong or indifferent. That is basically the foundation of the show. There’s dysfunction, but at the end of the day, they love each other."

Val Jean is ready to charter into a whole new soap territory with the characters who had come alive in her head before they came alive for the camera.

Trending

"This is a different kind of world," Val Jean explained. "The characters are different from anything that I've seen in daytime. That's what I'm excited about. We're presenting something that hasn't been done before."

Beyond the Gates will premiere on February 24, 2025 on CBS and Paramount Plus.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback

Comment