''Dear White People'' is an American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

television series on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

that follows several black college students at an Ivy League institution (the fictional Winchester University), touching on issues surrounding modern American race relations through a progressive lens. It is based on the 2014 film of the same name. The film's writer and director,

Justin Simien Justin Simien (born May 7, 1983) is an American filmmaker, actor, and author. His first feature film, ''Dear White People'', won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Talent at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. The film was later ...

, returned to write and direct episodes of the series. This series stars

Logan Browning Logan Laurice Browning (born June 9, 1989) is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Samantha White in the 2017 Netflix satirical-drama series ''Dear White People''. She is also known for playing Sasha in the 2007 film '' Bratz: ...

, Brandon P. Bell, DeRon Horton, and

Antoinette Robertson Antoinette Robertson is an American actress, known for her roles in the Oprah Winfrey Network prime time soap opera, '' The Haves and the Have Nots'' (2014–18), and Netflix comedy-drama series '' Dear White People'' (2017–2021). Life and car ...

. With a few exceptions, generally season finales, each episode focuses on one particular character. The series premiered on April 28, 2017. On October 2, 2019, the series was renewed for its fourth and final season, which was released on September 22, 2021.

Cast and characters

Main

as Samantha White, a college student trying to wake people up to the social issues still at play at Winchester * Brandon P. Bell as Troy Fairbanks; Bell reprises his role from the film * DeRon Horton as Lionel Higgins, a highly intelligent school reporter with some emotional issues *

as Colandrea "Coco" Conners, an ambitious black woman who antagonizes Samantha *

John Patrick Amedori John Patrick Amedori is an American actor and musician. He is known for playing Gabe Mitchell in ''Dear White People''. Amedori appeared in the film ''The Vatican Tapes'' (2015). He has also appeared in a number of television shows, including '' ...

as Gabe Mitchell, Samantha's main love interest * Ashley Blaine Featherson as Joelle Brooks; Featherson reprises her role from the film (the character is credited as "Curls" in the film) *

Marque Richardson Marque Richardson Jr. (born October 23, 1985) is an American actor. Early life Richardson was born in San Diego, California in the U.S., in a naval hospital. Both parents served in the United States Navy. His father hails from Detroit, Michi ...

as Reggie Green; Richardson reprises his role from the film (seasons 2-4; recurring season 1) *Jemar Michael as Al Lucas; Michael reprises his role from the film (the character is credited as "Smoothe" in the film) (season 4; recurring seasons 1-3) *Courtney Sauls as Brooke Morgan; Sauls reprises her role from the film (the character is credited as "Wild" in the film) (season 4; recurring seasons 1-3)

Recurring

Giancarlo Esposito Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito (; born April 26, 1958) is an American actor and director. He is best known for portraying Gus Fring in the AMC crime drama series ''Breaking Bad'', from 2009 to 2011, and in its prequel series ''Better Ca ...

as Dr. Edward Ruskins / The Narrator, a former professor at Winchester who serves as the narrator for the first three seasons (seasons 1-3) * DJ Blickenstaff as Silvio, Lionel's love interest (seasons 1-3) *

Caitlin Carver Caitlin Carver (born March 31, 1992) is an American actress. Early years Carver was born in Monrovia, Alabama. She attended Sparkman High School in Harvest, Alabama where she graduated in 2010. Her father is Don Carver. She grew up dancing, do ...

as Muffy Tuttle *

Ally Maki Ally Maki Matsumura (born December 29, 1986), known professionally as Ally Maki, is an American actress and model. She portrayed Jess Kato in the TBS comedy series '' Wrecked'' and the voice of Giggle McDimples in ''Toy Story 4''. Career Maki ...

as Ikumi (seasons 1, 3) *

Obba Babatundé Obba Babatundé (born Donald Cohen; December 1, 1951) is an American actor. A native of Queens, New York City, he has appeared in more than seventeen stage productions, thirty theatrical films, sixty made-for-television films, and two prime-time ...

as Dean Fairbanks * Brandon Black as Pastor Kordell *

Wyatt Nash Matthew Wyatt Elrod (born October 2, 1988), better known as Wyatt Nash, is an American television personality and actor. Under his birth name, he was a contestant on the Survivor: Redemption Island, 22nd season of the American competitive realit ...

as Kurt Fletcher (seasons 1-3) * Erich Lane as Clifton * Sheridan Pierce as Abigail * Nicholas Anthony Reid as James *

John Rubinstein John Rubinstein (born December 8, 1946) is an American actor, composer and director. Early life Rubinstein is the son of Polish parents. His mother, Aniela (née Młynarska), a dancer and writer, was a Roman Catholic native of Warsaw, the dau ...

as President Fletcher, Kurt's father (seasons 1, 4) *

Nia Long Nia Talita Long (born October 30, 1970) is an American actress. Best known for her work in Black cinema, Long rose to prominence after starring in the film ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), and for her portrayal of Beullah "Lisa" Wilkes on the NBC sit ...

as Neika Hobbs (season 1) * Nia Jervier as Kelsey Phillips; Jervier reprises her role from the film (the character is credited as "Coco's Friend" in the film) (seasons 1-3) *

Jeremy Tardy Jeremy Tardy (born November 7, 1990) is an American actor best known for ''Dear White People'' on Netflix and 68 Whiskey on Paramount Network. Career Jeremy Tardy started acting in theater at the age of five. All throughout his school life he str ...

as Rashid Mburu (seasons 1-3) *

Francia Raisa Francia Raisa Almendarez (born July 26, 1988) is an American actress. Raisa is known for her roles in '' Bring It On: All or Nothing'', ''The Secret Life of the American Teenager'', and ''Grown-ish''. Early life and education Raisa was born an ...

as Vanessa (season 1) *

Dahéli Hall Dahéli Hall is an American actress, stand-up comedian, writer, and director. Hall is most notable for her membership in the recurring cast of comedians on sketch comedy series ''MADtv'' during its 13th season. Biography Dahéli Hall was born in ...

as Dereca * Alex Alcheh as Milo (seasons 1, 3) *

Lena Waithe Lena Waithe (born May 17, 1984) is an American actress, producer, and screenwriter. She is the creator of the Showtime drama series ''The Chi'' (2018–present) and the BET comedy series ''Boomerang'' (2019–20) and '' Twenties'' (2020–prese ...

as P. Ninny; Waithe was a producer for the film (season 2) *

Blair Underwood Blair Erwin Underwood (born August 25, 1964) is an American actor. He made his debut in the 1985 musical film ''Krush Groove'' and from 1987 to 1994 starred as attorney Jonathan Rollins in the NBC legal drama series ''L.A. Law''. Underwood has a ...

as Moses Brown (Season 3) * Quei Tann as Genifer (seasons 3-4) * Wade F. Wilson as Michael (seasons 3-4) * Joi Liaye as Iesha Vital (season 4) *

Judith Scott Judith Scott may refer to: * Judith Scott (artist) (1943 – 2005), American fiber artist * Judith Scott (American actress) (born 1965), American television actress * Judith Scott (British actress) Judi Scott (1957–2018) was a British the ...

as Helen Freeman (season 4) *

Rome Flynn Rome Trumain Flynn (born November 25, 1991) is an American actor, model and musician. He is best known for his portrayal of Zende Forrester Dominguez on the CBS daytime drama ''The Bold and the Beautiful'' for which he won the Daytime Emmy Award f ...

as David (season 4) *

Wendie Malick Wendie Malick (born December 13, 1950) is an American actress and former fashion model, known for her roles in various television comedies. She starred as Judith Tupper Stone in the HBO sitcom '' Dream On'', and as Nina Van Horn in the NBC sitc ...

as Geraldine Bernadette (season 4)

Guest

Brant Daugherty Brant David Daugherty (born August 20, 1985) is an American actor, known for his recurring role as Noel Kahn on the teen drama television series ''Pretty Little Liars''. In 2013, he had a recurring role as Brian in the NBC daytime drama ''Days o ...

as Thane Lockwood *

Tessa Thompson Tessa Lynne Thompson (born October 3, 1983) is an American actress. She began her professional acting career with the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company while studying at Santa Monica College. She appeared in productions of '' The Tempest ...

as Rikki Carter. (Thompson originally played Samantha White in the film.) *

Tyler James Williams Tyler James Williams (born October 9, 1992) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor, making several appearances on ''Saturday Night Live'', ''Little Bill'', and ''Sesame Street''. Williams later rose to prominence for playing ...

as Carson Rhodes. (Williams originally played Lionel Higgins in the film.) * Brandon Alter as George; Alter reprises his role from the film *

Wendy Raquel Robinson Wendy Raquel Robinson is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as high school principal Regina "Piggy" Grier on The WB comedy sitcom ''The Steve Harvey Show'' (1996–2002), and as sports agent Tasha Mack on The CW/BET/Paramoun ...

as Tina White

Episodes

Series overview

Volume 1 (2017)

Volume 2 (2018)

Volume 3 (2019)

Volume 4 (2021)

Production

Netflix initially ordered ten 30-minute episodes from Simien and

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

, which distributed the film. TV writer

Yvette Lee Bowser Yvette Denise Lee Bowser (born 1965) is an American television writer and producer. She wrote and produced the TV shows ''Living Single ''Living Single'' is an American television sitcom created by Yvette Lee Bowser that aired for five seasons ...

, creator of ''

Living Single ''Living Single'' is an American television sitcom created by Yvette Lee Bowser that aired for five seasons on the Fox network from August 22, 1993, to January 1, 1998. The show centered on the lives of six friends who shared personal and professi ...

'', joined the series as showrunner and executive producer. The first season was released on April 28, 2017. On June 30, 2017, Netflix renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on May 4, 2018. On June 21, 2018, the series was renewed for a third season, which was released on August 2, 2019. On October 2, 2019, the series was renewed for a fourth and final season. Simien promoted longtime series writer Jaclyn Moore to co-showrunner for this concluding chapter, which features a significant musical element. The final season was released on September 22, 2021.

Reception

The initial trailer for the TV show attracted some angry responses, with the series being accused by some

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

users of being racist towards white people; they called for a boycott of Netflix. The YouTube trailer for the series received more dislikes than likes. Series creator Justin Simien responded positively to the backlash, saying it reiterated the point of the series and brought more attention to it as well. Lead actress Logan Browning noted that many of the critics who gave the show rave reviews were white. Actor

announced he would not be returning for the fourth season, citing racism allegations against Lionsgate. Specifically, Tardy and fellow actors were presented unequal pay and negotiation powers for their fourth-season roles.

Critical response

The series has been met with critical acclaim. On

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 ...

, season one has a "Certified Fresh" 95% approval rating based on 55 reviews from critics, with an average rating of 8.69/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Timely, provocative, and sharply written, ''Dear White People'' is an entertaining blend of social commentary and incisive humor." 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 ...

, the season has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100, based on 21 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Peter Debruge, writing for ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', praised the show's writing, directing, social commentary, and cast. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' praised the show's examination of concerns such as appropriation, assimilation, and conflict. On Rotten Tomatoes, season two holds an approval rating of 100% based on 32 reviews from critics, with an average rating of 9.35/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Dear White People''s endearing excellence returns, but with an added layer of emotional maturity that enhances the show's powerful, relevant meditations on race relations in America." On Metacritic, the second season has a score of 89 out of 100, based on 7 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The third season has a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's critics consensus states, "Though at times it vamps more than it grows, ''Dear White People'' third season still excels thanks to its continued willingness to confront tough social issues with comedic grace." On Metacritic, the third season has a score of 78 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

References

External links