By: Victoria Uwumarogie | Photography By: Lelanie Foster

Nobody really knew how far it would go. Not at first.

When The Chi premiered on Showtime in 2018, it arrived as something genuinely different: a drama rooted in the humanity of Chicago’s South Side, created by Lena Waithe, a gifted writer who grew up there and wanted to shift the narrative about her city. The cast believed in the work, and hoped for the best, but when something is different, you just never know how it will be received. What they did know were the realities of show business.

“I think after the first season, I was like, all right, I need to start looking for another movie. I need to start playing maybe a tour, another album,” says actor Jacob Latimore, when recalling the early days of filming The Chi, where he’s played Emmett. “I think as actors, we always kind of have to be ready to pivot,” he adds.

He hasn’t had to. Eight seasons later, they’re still here.

The fact that the series has reached its eighth and final season is beyond anything he could have imagined. But for co-star Birgundi Baker, who plays his partner Kiesha, she foresaw greatness.

“I knew it was going to go for a long time. I would tell Hannaha all the time, ‘I want to be a series regular,’ because I saw something very special, but I could not have dreamed of eight seasons,” she says. “That surpassed my expectation, but I knew it was going to have a really good moment.”

“I was unsure,” admits Hannaha Hall, who plays Tiffany on the series. “I was just really happy that Chicago was being placed on screen…I thought it was very special, but I didn’t know. Just knowing and understanding how TV goes, but I remember Jacob actually made a joke saying ‘Six seasons, six seasons!’ And I literally remember that I’m like, ‘Six? I don’t know.’ But we’re here—eight!”

Latimore, Baker and Hall, dressed to the nines for our digital cover shoot, recount the beginnings of the show on a stage in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood. They are just a few of the cast members present who were there from the very start, and lucky enough to be present for the very end, as the series prepares to take its final bow on Showtime and Paramount+, starting on May 22.

They’re flanked by Luke James and Jason Weaver, who joined the series in Season 4. Their character arcs have been significant. For the latter, the storied singer and actor had actually been a part of the series from its earliest renderings, when it was still a pilot and he was set to play the embattled, grief-stricken character Ronnie. But the pilot had to be reshot with a different lineup of actors — Hall being one of the only ones to remain — before getting the green light.

“That character Ronnie, at that time, although I was able to play it, I think believably, that wasn’t meant for me. But Shaad was meant for me,” Weaver says. “And just to give Lena [Waithe] credit, when I received the news that I wasn’t going with the original pilot, she had called me maybe like 20 minutes later and said, ‘Hey brother, I know this is crazy, but you know this business.’ I’ve been in the entertainment industry now for like 40-plus years, so I know how the game goes. And she told me, ‘When I get this show up and running the way it needs to go and I’m telling the kind of stories that I want to tell as it relates to this, I’m going to come back and get you.’ And sure enough, she really did.”

That sort of determination from Waithe, creating opportunities for talent she believed in, runs throughout the series and is a significant part of why it lasted as long as it has. When central character Brandon, played by actor Jason Mitchell, had to exit the series at the end of Season 2 following serious allegations about Mitchell’s behavior on set, Waithe trusted her ensemble enough to uplift them. She expanded their stories. That decision allowed audiences to watch all the characters grow up in real time. It also helped the actors grow as people as they stepped up to meet the moment.

“I had some experience just as a teenager working with some really seasoned actors, Forest Whitaker, Will Smith, and just number one guys, leading guys. And I’m just like, all right, I already got a good blueprint on what that means. And I just wanted to kind of just set the example of knowing my lines, being on time as best as I can and trying to sharpen that every year,” says Latimore, whose character went from an immature sneakerhead who had to grow up faster than expected, to business owner and responsible father and father figure. He felt it his responsibility to show the welcoming, joyful spirit that actually defined the set following Williams’s firing. “I was trying to be an hour early on my call time, trying to show up early to just be at the trailers, say hello to the catering guys and try to beat the PAs there. I would try to make all the guests feel welcome because it could become a stigma as if our set wasn’t maybe safe and that kind of made me feel like, nah, our set is safe.”

The shift allowed Baker to grow as an actress. Her character, Kiesha, would have one of the most significant storylines in the series, navigating being kidnapped, raped and impregnated, building a blended family with Emmett, forging an unlikely sisterhood with his ex-wife, played by Hall, and welcoming a daughter at the end of Season 7.

“I spoke with Lena and the team, and they told me that I would be moving up Season 3 and I was just ready,” Baker notes. “I was prepared and grateful for the opportunity to be trusted with more and I was even more excited that the storyline was so meaningful. I felt like the timing was perfect because I always wanted to be a big part of The Chi and it wouldn’t have been the same had I been that from the beginning. The timing was perfect.”

That same type of opportunity came about for James thanks to Waithe, whom he’d been acquainted with in the past. The timing was also perfect for him.

“My show at the time, Star, had gotten canceled and then I think a week later I received a request for an audition for [Trig] in The Chi. I had asked God for a challenge for something different, something not musical, something outside of my wheelhouse. I was ready. I was ready and open and then here this role came and I jumped headfirst,” he recalls of stepping into Trig, a gangster turned man of the people. “I just saw an opportunity to expand my territory and as soon as I did that, I sent tape in. I mean, I think it was like three days later I get a text from Lena thanking me and just saying that we’re going to have a great ride together and this is going to be expansive. It’s going to be a beautiful experience. Before I was on this show, I just thought it was huge. It was talking about what needed to be talked about, not talking about what’s going to get the crowd going. So, I was geeked to just be a part of such a drama, and yeah, it changed my world forever.”

It also transformed the way people view Chicago, of course. Following years of the “Chiraq” label, Waithe, the cast and crew set out to show the city’s full breadth. For true South Siders like Hall and Weaver, that mission was personal.

“We do a really good job of showing the Chicago culture. It’s a lot of Chicago coded things that we do, like the block club parties, the skating rink. Those things are very indigenous to us and what’s special to us in our culture,” says Hall.

Adds Weaver, “I think one of the things that Lena has been able to successfully do as a proud Chicagoan, and what the writers have been able to do is really tell the true story of what we’ve experienced growing up. And what we know is community, what we know is family, what we know is cookouts, what we know are block parties. Yeah, the violence and the gangster stuff is like an element. It’s a piece of what the city is about, but that’s not the whole story.”

It’s ultimately the human story. As Waithe tells it, any of the characters could be dropped in a city near you. James, who hails from New Orleans, certainly found himself in familiar territory.

“I’m from New Orleans. I mean, you could change the name of it and call it The N-O,” he says. “I learned a lot about Chicago, and I learned about the throughline that we’re very similar and I mean, if you think about The Great Migration, we’re all pretty much similar tribes. And so, our celebrations and so on are very, very much the same. So, I think that’s why it resonates. It may seem niche to others, but it’s universal to all of us and that’s what makes a profound show. It just crosses the lines if you take the ride.”

Viewers will be able to take one last ride with The Chi as the team behind it says a triumphant farewell over the next 10 episodes. In conversation, the shows players speak warmly about how they’ll miss the charm of filming in the city—the food, “the yachts” on the water in summertime, and the colorful and dedicated extras on set each day. And they’re honest about how they’ll miss the stability that a longtime TV gig brings. But there’s no bitter with the sweet. They’re confident that the story they were tasked with telling by their great leader, Waithe, is complete—and lasting.

“The one thing that I can take away from this show is having an even deeper appreciation for the diversity and the complexity of the Black community. I’ve never subscribed to the theory that Black people were a monolith. The Chi has shown me just how different we are and how we can learn from one another, especially myself as a Black man,” Weaver says. “I get a lot of Black men who approach me on the street day in and day out and talk about the men’s circle and talk about mental health. And that was something that myself, I never really discussed with my friends before and I never really had focused on even when it just came to checking on myself internally. And that’s one of the things that the show has inspired me to do more, is to do more self-checks and to reach out to my brothers and ask them, ‘Hey man, how you feeling? You all right? You need to talk about something?’ Because not only have I seen it, the positive effect it’s had on the characters and their growth, but I’m actually having conversations with members of the community that have let me know how it’s made such a positive impact in their lives. I’m so grateful.”

CREDITS

Photographer: @lelanief
Production: @allworthypeople
Talent: @lenawaithe @jacoblatimore @hannahahall @wolfjames @birgundi_baker @itsjasonweaver
Stylist: @newheartnyc
Hair: @takishahair
Makeup: @alovethepro
Special thanks to: @paramountplus
ESSENCE
Editorial Director: @ghostwritervic
Content Operations Manager: @shelbylnstewart
VP, of Social & Special Projects: @mentionme
Visuals Director: @hashtag_bre
Art Director: @so.lit
Writer: @ghostwritervic