*Meagan Goode’s 20+ year career has seen the actress flex her range across various TV and film projects including hit comedies, drama, thrillers and horror.
Seems only fitting that she would tackle science fiction next, signing on to play the female lead in the new FOX drama “Minority Report,” a sequel to the Steven Spielberg – directed movie set 10 years after the end of Precrime in D.C.
“Minority Report” joins “Empire” and “Sleepy Hollow,” along with new medical drama “Rosewood,” as shows on FOX which feature black actors in lead roles.
In a recent telephone interview with Meagan, she responded to critics who call the current “trend” of casting Black women in lead roles on TV series “politically correct,” and she expressed her gratitude for her “colorless” character on the Spielberg adaptation.
Meagan: It was literally my prayer last year. I wanted to do some type of strong female character that has action and science fiction. I believed that I just needed to be patient and the right thing would come, and then this landed and I was immediately attracted to this character and her strength and her fearlessness and just her ability to have this moral compass that drives her to exist in this incredible world of 2065 and the elements that play into her being a cop and trying to stop these murders, everything about it was appetizing. It was something that I definitely sought out and waited on and it came full circle and I’m grateful.
Meagan praised FOX for the way the network has been promoting the show, and she said having Spielberg involved with the series “added value.”
Meagan: Having the added value of Steven Spielberg allowing this to be made into a TV show, and him being onboard as a producer, then after seeing the pilot, coming onboard as executive producer and being hands-on with handpicking actors and scripts and where this season’s going to go, and the inventions that exist in 2065. I think all of these elements are added things that are gonna make all the difference.
How are you hoping Minority Report inspires this current generation of young TV viewers?
Meagan: I hope it inspires them in the sense of, ‘what we can do as human beings?’ Even if it’s one or two people, if you put all your effort and energy into it, you can really make a difference and get other people onboard and make a difference. My character and Dash’s character (are) two people who want so badly to make a difference.
How do you respond to critics who believe the casting of Black women in lead roles on network television is simply PC and reactionary to “Scandal.”
Meagan: I live by the grace of God and I’ve been able to work in this industry for the past 20 years and I know what it is to walk into a room and (hear) ‘Hey, we’re going to have you read for this role,’ and then say ‘We would love for you to play the lead but, we’re going to give you the best friend role because we don’t want the lead to be Black.’ My attitude has been, I don’t want to get upset. I want to put all my energy and effort into having a positive attitude, a positive outlook, being on the frontline of creating change.
If people are uncomfortable with it, you’re never going to be comfortable with it. You just gotta get over it because it’s what’s coming, it’s natural evolution.
If there’s any truth to the fact that it’s just an influx and a trend, well, it’s a great trend. There were some actors who said ‘I wasn’t given an opportunity to go in for this role because they knew that they wanted to go with a minority.’ Well, I know what that feels like. I went through that every year – that I wasn’t going to get the opportunity because I’m a minority. I’m excited to be living in this moment.
“Minority Report” premiers TONIGHT on Fox (Monday, September 21) at 9/8c.
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