*The new BET+ family drama “The Black Hamptons” gives you drama, intrigue, and beautiful Black people.
Set in the quaint town of Sag Harbor known as “The Black Hamptons,” the series follows two families and a brewing feud over land. Carolyn Britton (Vanessa Bell Calloway) is the matriarch of the old money elite Britton family. Carolyn is the head of Amistad Bank and Trust, the largest minority-owned bank. Her family has owned their estate for three generations and considers themselves the “first family” of the Black Hamptons.
Lamman Rucker and Elise Neal are Anthony and Sydney Johnson, the new money tech entrepreneurs who feel like outsiders. Anthony is the CEO of Sydney Tech, a company he built from the ground up. His wife, Sydney, is a Brooklyn girl who helped him create the business. She is fiercely protective of her family. Things become even more complicated when Sydney’s younger sister Karrin (Blac Chyna) unexpectedly shows up at the Johnson household to add more complications to the mix.
I talked with the cast about the new series and the type of juicy drama you can expect. Rucker said he and Elise discussed ideas for the Johnsons’ “aesthetic and swag.”
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“We were like; this is Jay Z and Beyonce, Ciara and Russ meets the gates. How do you mix the two? How do you make this like Elon Musk, the tech genius with contemporary Black, urban, sophisticated swag?” Rucker said the couple is young and sexy; they’re current and contemporary. But I think there’s also something about them that’s also very old school.”
Neal added that it was important to show a Black couple on TV that was all about loving each other first and protecting that relationship. “I think that that’s so important that this couple was shown as a fun-loving couple in a great relationship. Black love can be beautiful. It doesn’t have to be stagnant, doesn’t have to be boring.”
Karrin blows into town and immediately catches the eye of Carolyn’s youngest son, Martin, the bank’s SVP and one of the area’s most eligible bachelors. Blac Chyna said Karrin “has her ways” but felt that Karrin was being unfairly judged. “She’s fun, and she’s spoiled. She’s a brat. But she’s working through it and trying to change and be a better person.”
Calloway said her character of Carolyn doesn’t care about the opinions of others.
Guess Who’s Coming to Breakfast wit’ a side of shade. ???? #TheBlackHamptons is now available to stream on BET+. pic.twitter.com/XBq9LZogkl
— BET+ (@betplus) September 8, 2022
“She goes as far as she needs to go to keep her boys in line to keep their dynasties intact. She knows what’s needed to continue to have money in power. So there’s no such thing as too far for Carolyn. She will go as far as she needs to go to get what she wants and keep what she has,” she explained.
Calloway noted that as a mother, Carolyn is no-nonsense.
“She knows how she raised her children. She knows what she expects from them. They know what she expects from them. And when they step out of line, they know they will be pulled back. She knows their business. And they’re not boys and or children. They’re grown men, but she still knows their whereabouts, their business, who they are dealing with, and who their relationships are with,” she said.
“And she has an opinion, and she will voice her opinion. She’s still telling him what to do. But the interesting thing is they listen to her. So she has gotten them out of a lot of situations. She has helped them with many things, and they know their mother’s power. And they still listen to her. So that was interesting. She’s bossy, but they, they deal with that, they may not always like it, but they deal with it and respect it,” Calloway added.
“The Black Hamptons” was created by New York Times bestselling author and creator of “The Family Business,” Carl Weber. It is streaming exclusively on BET+.
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