In celebration of its third season premiere, the Oprah Winfrey Network hosted a private watch party and Q&A session with fans of its hit series “Greenleaf” in Midtown Atlanta on Aug. 25.
Hours before the screening, fans lined up outside the SCADShow Theater, where they were treated to complimentary popcorn and an opportunity to groove to gospel music.
At 7 p.m., the lights in the theater went down, and the screening for Greenleaf’s third season, aptly entitled “Faith and Fury,” began.
Following the screening, V-103 radio personality Ramona Debreaux moderated a Q&A session with stars of the popular show, including Merle Dandridge, Lynn Whitfield, Deborah Joy Winans, Lamman Rucker and Keith David.
Spoiler alert: If you haven’t seen the season premiere yet, there may be one small spoiler here.
As the premiere episode “Strange Currents” begins, the opening scene features Bishop James (David) sleeping in a hotel bed and there is a woman there who is not his wife. Scandalous!
Last season, Lady Mae (Whitfield) kicked Bishop out of the house after learning of his ongoing affair with her sister, Mavis. Now, Lady Mae decides she won’t attend church because she doesn’t want to hear Bishop preach.
She declares, “What is it the young people say? I can’t even.”
Viewers also see the mother/daughter relationship between Lady Mae and Grace (Dandridge) has become as strained as ever, even as they worry about Grace’s Zora who had run away from home.
In a great scene, after Jacob and his wife bring their daughter Zora home, he gets into a heated argument with the teen. She slams her room door. Jacob says, “don’t slam my door, I’ll take it off the hinges.”
During the Q&A, Rucker shared with us that line wasn’t written in the script. He said it in the heat of the moment and we can all relate to that! Rucker also told us that this season, his character will grapple with the delicate balance of raising a young son and a teenage daughter.
Keith David said his character Bishop James will walk up to the door of temptation with Miss Cross. That was a great tease for us to stay tuned to the rest of the season to find out if he walks through that door.
There were some moments that were a bit light-hearted. The audience laughed when Charity groaned, “I’m gonna come from a broken home,” as she and her siblings try to come to grips with the possibility that their parents could split for good.
Winans shared with fans that even though she comes from the legendary Winans gospel dynasty, singing a song on the show’s soundtrack was difficult for her. She said her passion has always been acting, so she never envisioned singing in her future.
Whitfield made it known that Patti Labelle will join the cast as Lady Mae’s former schoolmate. She also said Lady Mae will confront a great mistake of her life and she has to own up to it.
Dandridge said Grace will deal with a new phase of motherhood as her daughter, Sophia wrestles with her faith.
