''She's Gotta Have It'' 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 created by

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

. It is based on his 1986 film of the same name. Ten 30-minute episodes were ordered by

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 ...

, all of which were directed by Lee. The show premiered on November 23, 2017. On January 1, 2018, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on May 24, 2019. On July 17, 2019, Netflix canceled the series after two seasons.

Cast and characters

Main

DeWanda Wise DeWanda Wise (née Jackson) (born May 30, 1984) is an American actress. She starred in Spike Lee's Netflix comedy-drama series ''She's Gotta Have It'' (2017–19), a contemporary adaptation of his 1986 film. Early life and education Wise was ...

as Nola Darling *

Anthony Ramos Anthony Paul Ramos Martinez (born November 1, 1991) is an American actor and singer. In 2015, he originated the dual roles of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton in the Broadway musical '' Hamilton''. Ramos also appeared in the 2021 film version o ...

Mars Blackmon Mars Blackmon is a fictional character in the film ''She's Gotta Have It'' (1986), played by the film's writer/director, Spike Lee. In the film, he is a "Brooklyn-loving" fan of the New York Knicks, sports, and Air Jordans (the basketball shoes w ...

Lyriq Bent Lyriq Bent (born January 3, 1979) is a Jamaican-Canadian actor. He is known for his roles in the ''Saw'' films, the television series ''Rookie Blue'', and '' The Book of Negroes''. Bent portrays Jamie Overstreet in the Netflix series ''She's Go ...

as Jamie Overstreet * Cleo Anthony as Greer Childs *

Margot Bingham Margot Bingham is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She is best known for her role as jazz singer Daughter Maitland in the HBO period drama series, ''Boardwalk Empire''. In 2015, Bingham began starring as one of lead characters in the AB ...

as Clorinda "Clo" Bradford (season 2; recurring season 1) *

Chyna Layne Chyna Layne is a Jamaican American actress who has appeared in a number of films and television productions, including the movie '' Precious'', the television movie ''Life Support'', and the television drama ''Push''. Career Layne has appeared ...

as Shemekka Epps (season 2; recurring season 1) *

De'Adre Aziza De'Adre Danielle Aziza (; born June 14, 1977) is an American actress and singer. Early life and education Aziza was born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey. She is the daughter of Donna Avery, retired part-time assistant profe ...

as Raqueletta Moss (season 2; recurring season 1)

Recurring

Ilfenesh Hadera Ilfenesh Hadera (born December 1, 1985) is an American actress. Early life Hadera was born on December 1, 1985 in Harlem to Kim Nichols and Asfaha Hadera. She identifies as half Ethiopian and half white. Her father is a Tigrayan refugee and foun ...

as Opal Gilstrap *

Kim Director Kimberly Ann Director (born November 13, 1974) is an American actress. She has played the roles of Kim Diamond in ''Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2'' (2000), and Stevie in ''Inside Man'' (2006). Beginning in 2017, she has appeared as a recurring ...

as Bianca Tate *

Sydney Morton Sydney Morton (born 1985) is an American stage and television actress, singer and dancer. Early life and education According to Morton, her maternal grandfather appeared on Broadway in 1933 in ''Run, Little Chillun'', an all-Black revue, and ...

as Cheryl Overstreet *Elise Hudson as Rachel *

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 ap ...

as Papo *

Heather Headley Heather Headley (born October 5, 1974) is a Trinidadian-born American singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. She won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the titular role of ''Aida''. She also won the 2010 Grammy Aw ...

as Dr. Jamison *

Fat Joe Joseph Antonio Cartagena (born August 19, 1970), better known by his stage name Fat Joe, is an American rapper from New York City. He began his music career as a member of hip hop group Diggin' in the Crates Crew (D.I.T.C.), then forged a sol ...

as Winnie Win *

Joie Lee Joie Susannah Lee () is an American screenwriter, film producer and actress. Early years Lee was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Jacqueline ( ''née'' Shelton), a teacher of arts and black literature, and William James Edward Lee II ...

as Septima Darling * James McCaffrey as Danton Phillips *

Thomas Jefferson Byrd Thomas Jefferson Byrd (June 25, 1950 – October 3, 2020) was an American character actor who played in several of director Spike Lee's films. He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in the 2003 B ...

as Stokely *

Craig muMs Grant Craig O'Neil Grant (December 18, 1968 – March 24, 2021), also known as Craig muMs Grant and muMs the Schemer, was an American poet and actor best known for his role as Arnold "Poet" Jackson on the HBO series '' Oz''. Life and career Grant wa ...

as Cash Jackson * Nolan Gerard Funk as Andrew Goldling *

Wallace Shawn Wallace Michael Shawn (born November 12, 1943) is an American actor, playwright, and essayist. His film roles include Wally Shawn (a fictionalized version of himself) in '' My Dinner with Andre'' (1981), Vizzini in ''The Princess Bride'' (1987), ...

as Julius Kemper

Music

The song "Black Girl Magic" by Chrisette Michele was going to be played in the show, however Lee removed it after she performed at the

inauguration of Donald Trump The inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States marked the commencement of Donald Trump's term as president and Mike Pence as vice president. An estimated 300,000 to 600,000 people attended the public ceremony hel ...

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2017)

Season 2 (2019)

Reception

''She's Gotta Have It'' has received positive reviews from critics. , the show holds a score of 77 out of 100 on the review aggregator

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 ...

, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". 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 ...

, the first season holds an 83% "Certified Fresh" rating based on 63 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The site's consensus was: "Fun, fascinating and feminist, Spike Lee's classic is born again for a new generation." The second season has a 73% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The site's consensus was: ''She's Gotta Have It'' wades through some narrative wilderness after shifting away from its founding romantic conceit, but Spike Lee's vibrant eye and DeWanda Wise's darling performance keep proceedings engaging."

References

External links

* on

* {{DEFAULTSORT:She's Gotta Have It (Tv Series) 2010s American LGBT-related drama television series 2010s American comedy-drama television series 2017 American television series debuts 2019 American television series endings Bisexuality-related television series English-language Netflix original programming Lesbian-related television shows Live action television shows based on films Television series set in 2016 Television shows set in New York City