''David Makes Man'' is an American

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television series that premiered on August 14, 2019, on

OWN Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

. In December 2019, OWN renewed the series for a second season which premiered on June 22, 2021.

Premise

''David Makes Man'' follows a 14-year-old named David "from the projects who is haunted by the death of his friend and relied on by his hardworking mother to find a way out of poverty."

Cast and characters

Main

* Akili McDowell as David **Kwame Patterson as Adult David (season 2) * Alana Arenas as Gloria, David's and JG's mother *

Phylicia Rashad Phylicia Rashad ( ) (née Ayers-Allen; born June 19, 1948) is an American actress, singer and director who is dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University. She is best known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom ''The Cosby S ...

as Dr. Woods-Trap * Nathaniel Logan McIntyre as Seren ** Kyle Beltran as Adult Seren (recurring season 2) * Isaiah Johnson as Sky * Ade Chike Torbert as Raynan *

Jordan Bolger Jordan Bolger (born 9 November 1994) is an English actor. He has performed in television notably in Peaky Blinders, The 100 and The Book of Boba Fett. In film, he is known for side roles in Tom & Jerry and The Woman King. Early life and educati ...

as Shinobi * Cayden K. Williams as JG (Jonathan Greg), David's younger brother and Gloria's younger son ** Arlen Escarpeta as Adult JG (season 2) * Travis Coles as Mx. Elijah * Daniel Augustin as Eman * Gillian Williams as Jessica Kelly *

Ruben Santiago-Hudson Ruben Santiago-Hudson (born Ruben Santiago Jr., November 24, 1956) is an American actor, playwright, and director who has won national awards for his work in all three categories. He is best known for his role of Captain Roy Montgomery from 20 ...

as Dr. Bree *

Elvis Nolasco Elvis Nolasco is an American film, stage and television actor known for his work on the ABC anthology series ''American Crime''. Early life Nolasco was born and raised in New York City and is of Dominican descent. Career Nolasco has made a ...

as Tio-Teo * Randy Gonzalez as Mr. Lopez *

Lela Rochon Lela Rochon Staples (born April 17, 1964) is an American actress, best known for her starring role as Robin Stokes in the 1995 romantic drama film ''Waiting to Exhale''. She also had notable roles in the films ''Harlem Nights'' (1989), ''Boomerang ...

as Alma * Trace Lysette as Femi * Liza Colón-Zayas as Principal Fallow *

Juanita Jennings Juanita Jennings (born September 12, 1952) is an American actress, known for her roles on television. Career Jennings won the 1994 CableACE Award for Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries for her role in '' Laurel Avenue''. She guest-starre ...

as Mrs. Hertrude * Lindsey Blackwell as Marissa **

Erica Luttrell Erica Luttrell is a Canadian actress. Personal life Luttrell was born in Toronto, Ontario to a Tanzanian mother and an American father. Luttrell is the youngest of four sisters. She can speak some French and Swahili. In August 2019, Luttrell ...

as Adult Marissa (season 2) * Solomon Valdez as Willie Derrick * Teshi Thomas as Tare ** Aba Arthur as Adult Tare (season 2) * Nick Creegan as Desmond * Kimaya Naomi as Shella ** Zsané Jhé as Adult Shella (season 2) * Logan Rozos as Star Child *

Tony Plana José Antonio Plana (born April 19, 1952) is a Cuban actor and director. He is known for playing Betty Suarez's father, Ignacio Suarez, on the ABC television show ''Ugly Betty'' and for voicing Manuel "Manny" Calavera in the video game ''Grim ...

as Joe Padilla (season 2) * Brittany S. Hall as Nicole (season 2) * Bobbi Baker as Robin (season 2) * Patrice Arenas as Denise (season 2) * Trinity Cidel as Trenise (season 2) * Brandi Huzzie as Trisha (season 2) * Rodney Gardiner as Corey Roberts (season 2) * Janmarco Santiago as Elan (season 2)

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2019)

Season 2 (2021)

Production

Development

On August 16, 2017, it was reported that

Oprah Winfrey Network Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) is an American multinational basic cable channel jointly owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Harpo Studios that launched on January 1, 2011, replacing the Discovery Health Channel. The network is led by talk show h ...

had given the production a straight-to-series order created by

Tarell Alvin McCraney Tarell Alvin McCraney (born October 17, 1980) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. He is the chair of playwriting at the Yale School of Drama and a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble. He co-wrote the 2016 film ''Moonlight ...

. On June 26, 2018, it was announced that Dee Harris-Lawrence will be the showrunner and set to serve as an executive producer along with Tarell Alvin McCraney, Mike Kelley, Melissa Loy,

Michael B. Jordan Michael Bakari Jordan (; born February 9, 1987) is an American actor. He is known for his film roles as shooting victim Oscar Grant in the drama ''Fruitvale Station'' (2013), boxer Adonis Creed in ''Creed'' (2015), and Erik Killmonger in ''Bl ...

, and

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

. Production companies involved with the series were slated to include

Warner Horizon Scripted Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

, Page Fright, and Outlier Productions. The series was set to premiere on August 14, 2019. The pilot episode was premiered at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

on March 10, 2019. On December 19, 2019, OWN renewed the series for a second season. On June 29, 2020,

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

acquired the streaming rights for the series which was debuted on July 16, 2020. The series' producer Dee Harris-Lawrence most recently signed an overall deal with Warner Bros. Television Studios. The second season premiered on June 22, 2021.

Casting

In June 2018, it was announced that Akili McDowell, Phylicia Rashad, Nathaniel Logan McIntyre, Isaiah Johnson, Ade Chike Torbert,

, Cayden K. Williams, and Travis Coles are cast as series regulars. In August 2018, Alana Arenas has been cast as a series regular while Gillian Williams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Elvis Nolasco, and Randy Gonzalez are cast in recurring roles. On October 25, 2018, Lela Rochon, Trace Lysette, Liza Colón-Zayas, Juanita Jennings, Lindsey Blackwell, Solomon Valdez, Teshi Thomas, and newcomers Nick Creegan, Kimaya Naomi and Logan Rozos have joined the series in recurring roles. On August 6, 2020, Kwame Patterson and Arlen Escarpeta were cast in starring roles for the second season. On December 8, 2020,

, Brittany S. Hall,

, Zsané Jhé, Bobbi Baker, Patrice Arenas, Trinity Cidel, Brandi Huzzie, Rodney Gardiner, and Janmarco Santiago joined the cast in recurring roles for the second season.

Filming

Production began in the summer of 2018 in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

Reception

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series holds an approval rating of 100% based on 23 reviews, with an average rating of 8.98/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Powerful, beautiful, and like nothing else on TV, ''David Makes Man'' blends dreamy aesthetics with an empathetically crafted story to create a truly unique viewing experience." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, it has a weighted average score of 81 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Accolades

References

External links

* {{Oprah Winfrey Network 2010s American drama television series 2019 American television series debuts English-language television shows Oprah Winfrey Network original programming Poverty in television Serial drama television series Television series about teenagers Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television series by Warner Horizon Television Television shows set in Florida