Dear White People is an American comedy-drama TV series. It is created by Justin Simien. The series is based on a novel named Dear White people by Justin Simien. There also arises a controversy that the novel receiving a film adaptation with the same name, the internet became fixated on the title of the series. Despite the controversy, the series was well-received by critics with many highlighting the satire behind the comedy being excellently written. It is produced by SisterLee Productions, Culture Machine, Code Red, Homegrown Pictures, Roadside Attractions, and Lionsgate Television.
Dear White People was firstly released on Netflix in April 2017 with new “Volumes” arriving annually with season 2 arriving in May 2018 and season 3 in August 2019. Season 4 is on its way to release.
Trailer
The trailer of the series Dear White People was released on 17th August 2021. The season took place during Samantha White’s senior year at Winchester University.
The trailer gives us a short glimpse of the story which revolves around Sam documenting the school’s annual satire musical, dubbed Varsity Show. This year, the Black students of Armstrong-Parker House are writing the production for the first time ever. However, not everyone is on board with their ’90s theme.
“Is this the legacy we want? ‘Showtime at Winchester,’ minstrelsy,” someone says in the clip. “Black AF is protesting the show…and anyone involved.”
Since the new episodes are modelled after a ’90s musical, they’ll feature hit songs like En Vogue’s “Free Your Mind” and Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It.”
Here we present the trailer:-
Renewal Status
Netflix has officially renewed in October 2019 for its final season. Without any official viewing figures, it is very hard to judge that how the series has performed. Beyond the initial outburst of controversy, the series has been great quality-wise but hard to tell whether it’s a rating juggernaut.
The only news that we get to know about the viewership was in summer 20220 where Netflix has introduced a Black Lives Matter collection where the series reportedly enjoyed a boost of 700% in viewership.
In October 2019, after the release of volume 3 on Netflix, it was announced that the show would be returning for a fourth season but it would also be the last. As some dub it, a ‘recanceling’.
The Executive Producer and creator Justin Simien said in a statement, “I’m so grateful my little indie-that-could has made it to four seasons at Netflix. This show, along with the many talented storytellers it has brought into my orbit, has changed my life and I can’t wait to create a celebratory final volume befitting such a transformative experience.”
Production
The Production of the fourth season was delayed automatically from its early 2020 start date due to the coronavirus pandemic where the majority of productions were canned to help stop the spread. ProductionWeekly has reported later in the summer that production has started on 13th October 2020 in Los Angeles. After the production has started again, it has paused a couple of times (once in November due to an outbreak and delay in restarting after Christmas break due to high case numbers in Los Angeles).
In January 2021, the series was still filming and is expected to wrap soon.
Cast
The Core cast members are expected to return back, the members are Logan Browning as Samantha White, Brandon P Bell as Troy Fairbanks, and DeRon Horton as Lionel Higgens. The only other cast member that has been announced so far.
One cast member who will not be returning is Jeremy Tardy who played Rashid Bakr due to contract disputes according to the actor. In a thread on Twitter in September 2020, the actor has said:-
“Unfortunately I will not be joining NETFLIX’s Dear White People for its fourth and final season due to my experience with Lionsgate and their practices of racial discrimination. After being offered to return for several episodes my team was notified that our counter offer would not be considered and that the initial offer was the ‘best and final’.”
In January 2021, it was announced the Queer Eye alum Karamo Brown would be playing a character in the final season although Deadline reports that his character details are being kept under wraps.
Release Date and Episodes
The fourth and final season of Dear White people is going to release on Wednesday on 22nd September 2021.
The final season will be in keeping with previous episode counts and will be 10 episodes long.
