Dear White People Season 3 - Panel Discussion at 92Y in NYC

DWP Panel (l to r: Sylvia Obell, Justin Simien, Logan Browning, Antoinette Robertson, and Ashley Blaine Featherson) Photo Credit: Rod Morata/Michael Priest Photography

Monday night, here on NYC’s Upper East-Side at 92Y, the creator and the three leading ladies of Netflix’s Dear White People appeared for an intimate panel discussion for the upcoming third season.  The panel was moderated by Buzzfeed’s Sylvia Obell, host of Hella Opinion. The audience was treated to a snapshot of what it is like on the set of the show, with everyone dropping hot takes and one liners while giving off family vibes with lots of insightful nuggets of what to expect for this upcoming season. I’m personally here for Joelle and Reggie’s relationship and story line!

Sylvia Obell: “Can you set up what is happening in this season from what the characters were exposed to in season 2?

Justin Simien: “For me, I just wanted them to get a little weird.  We are in a new era of tv where I don’t want to watch the same season over and over again. I wanted to see them grow even past the personalities that we love about them, love who they are. The truth is we get so caught up in celebrating ourselves, which we need to do because no one else will, but sometimes we can get accidentally stuck in what we were and who we were and I want to see what happens when we get a little bit weird and we see the characters grow past the point that you normally get to watch in a tv show.

SO: Who is Sam, Coco and Joelle in season three without giving too much away?

Logan Browning (Sam): “At the end of season two, Sam is at a complete loss. She’s been through so much in her life at that point in a short period of time. She just decides she’s done and she kind of just throws it out there. I think even in the moment she said that she didn’t know what that meant to her and as she continued to explore it, she realized the radio show is where she started in terms of her movement and it used to be a tool that was fun and it was helpful and it amplified her voice in a positive way but it ended up being her kryptonite. She notices her BFF is always amazing and fantastic on the mic, so she graciously takes over.  So in the meantime, Sam is wondering number one who she is outside of the radio show and also schoolwork. She’s working on her documentary thesis, which she has no idea what she really is doing and that’s a lot of her story figuring that out .”

Ashley Blaine Featherson (Joelle): “Joelle is doing the most this season, literally the most! But it’s exciting because for me I think you get to see her do everything you’ve been salivating for her to do since season one! You get to see her be a little more independent. you get to see her explore the concept of a relationship. You get to see her outside her relationship with Sam and you get to see her, like everyone else, figure out who she is actually. Not so much who she is, but who she wants to be. Joelle is a sophomore. I don’t know who is a sophomore or who’s been a sophomore in college, but it’s a very interesting time in your life. Being nineteen and a Black girl at a PWI is not easy. You get to see kind of the depth and hard conversations that Joelle has with Same and Reggie which I think a lot of people will relate to.”

Antoinette Robertson (Coco): “ We see Coco throwing herself into her schoolwork and then this tornado of her mother arrives and Yvette Nicole Brown is amazing! I silently prayed for her, but I wouldn’t tell him (Justin) who it was because I didn’t want to jinx it.  But when I saw her name, I was like “thank you Jesus!” It was amazing! It’s nice to see her being confronted with her past (well still her present), but like her home where she’s from and what she tries to project to the world. So when you see those two worlds collide and also not necessarily dealing with issues she kind of hasn’t processed, she comes to a couple of revelations and it’s pretty nice to see her evolve into a more aware young lady .

Sylvia Obell, Antoinette Roberston, Logan Browning, Justin Simien, Ashley Blaine Featherson

Photo Credit: Rod Morata/Michael Priest Photography

To see more of the panel video here’s the link: https://youtu.be/Qoyt3PHPKEk

Here’s the Season Three trailer for Dear White People: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvPbJdDKKds

Drop me a note in the comments or hit me up on Twitter or Instagram with your thoughts as we tune in on Netflix for Season Three on August 2nd!