“Beyond the Gates,” CBS’s new daytime drama led by a Black cast, has arrived—bringing with it slaps across the face, golf clubs smashing across desks, shady under-the-table dealings, mysterious biker women, lurid mistresses turned wives, and a depiction of the Black Elite.
The melodrama has also arrived amid the current social and political atmosphere, as the new Trump administration is attempting to thwart and eliminate DEI across wide swaths of the government. Not to mention, a handful of high-profile Black figures in TV media just lost their shows or are being reshuffled. However, Tamara Tunie, who plays the show’s matriarch, EGOT winner Anita Dupree, thinks now is the perfect time for the soap opera to launch.
The hour-long daily soap, which debuted on Monday, February 24, has introduced the first soapy story to follow a Black cast in more than 30 years.
“I think this is the perfect time for this show to land,” Tunie told People magazine in a recent interview.
“We’re presenting this now because this is a part of Black life and culture that has been a part of the history of this country and the fabric of this country for hundreds and hundreds of years,” the 65-year-old veteran soap star continued. “No, we’re not going away, we’re actually going to be in your living room every day. And in the most fabulous way, and in the most welcoming way. Because this show, though it centers around the Black family, there are universal stories. That’s why people love soap operas.”
Set in a leafy affluent neighborhood in Fairmont Crest, Maryland, “Beyond the Gates” follows the lives of the elite and highly connected Dupree family. The harmony of the esteemed Black family, which includes Anita, the Dupree patriarch Vernon (Clifton Davis), and the families of their two adult daughters Nicole and Dani, is disturbed when a couple from their past returns to the wealthy enclave just outside of Washington, D.C.
“It’s the human frailties that really drive the shows — the flaws, the secrets, the lies, the backstabbing. So it’s all of that on this show, but it just looks so much different because of the population of the stories,” Tunie, who starred in CBS’s “As the World Turns” for two decades, told People.
She added, “The writers are knocking this show out of the park, and the stories are going to be fantastic.”
The “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody” actress also noted how “Beyond the Gates” hits familiar soap opera tropes while championing how unique Black stories can be.
“We know the African-American community is diverse in its own community,” said the “As The World Turns” alum. “We’re not a monolith. There are so many stories to tell and so many experiences to share. With this show now, we have a whole family and community of African-American players, so multiple stories can be told, not just one. [Fairmont Crest] is a new perspective of a population of the Black community that exists.”
Even so, she highlighted how “Beyond the Gates” also spotlights characters who represent other communities.
“This is truly a multi-cultural show,” Tunie said. “There’s not just the one Asian or the one Black actor or the one Hispanic, we’re all up in there. We’re all a part of the Fairmont Crest community. It’s really delicious in that way.”
“Beyond the Gates” airs weekdays (2 p.m. ET) on CBS and is streaming on Paramount +.
