“Beyond the Gates ”trailer introduces the first Black daytime soap in 35 years
"This is going to make history."
The first trailer for Beyond the Gates, CBS' new daytime soap is here, and it's explosive.
"Here we are," a voice announces over scenes of a luxury sedan pulling into a gated community and parking out in front of a sprawling estate. "A new dawn," another says, and a third: "Welcome to Fairmont Crest."
Beyond the Gates will follow a posh family and their associates who live behind the titular gates of a wealthy private community in a verdant Maryland suburb. "This is going to make history," one voice intones, as another cries out, "your family rules this community!"
The first trailer for the series culminates in Karla Cheatham Mosley's Dani Dupree sending all the objects on Bill Hamilton's (Timon Kyle Durrett) desk clattering to the floor with the sweep of a gold-plated golf club.
Beyond the Gates is the first Black soap to hit the air in 35 years, after NBC canceled the groundbreaking series Generations after only three seasons in 1991. It's also the first new soap to premiere on a major network since Passions in 1999.
The series was first announced in March, the product of a new venture between CBS and the NAACP. The president of the joint venture, Sheila Ducksworth, said in a statement at the time that Beyond the Gates "will salute an audience that has been traditionally underserved, with the potential to be a groundbreaking moment for broadcast television. With multidimensional characters, juicy storylines, and Black culture front and center, The Gates will have impactful representation, one of the key touchstones of the venture."
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Helming the series is Michele Val Jean, a veteran of daytime TV who has written for The Bold and the Beautiful since 2012, and before that both General Hospital and its spinoff series, Port Charles. Val Jean will serve as the showrunner, writer, and executive producer for Beyond the Gates, a fitting full circle moment, as one of Val Jean's first stints in the field was as Generations script writer.
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The cast includes fellow soap opera vet Mosley, who previously appeared on Guiding Light and The Bold and the Beautiful, Durrett (Queen Sugar), Tamara Tunie (As the World Turns), Clifton Davis (Amen), Daphnée Duplaix (One Life to Live), Trisha Mann-Grant (The Family Business), Lauren Buglioli (Dynasty), and more.
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In a look back at Generations in February, creator Sally Sussman remarked that, "This was pre-internet days, and there was a massive letter writing campaign [to save the show]... Had the internet existed then, you and I both know that show would never have been canceled."
Beyond the Gates premieres on CBS on February 24.
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