Harlem, a fresh take on female friendship centering on four ambitious women living in New York City, just dropped its complete first season on Prime Video. Written by Tracy Oliver (who graced us with Girls Trip and Little) and Britt Matt (who collaborated with Oliver on the recent First Wives Club reboot), the series explores how each character handles not only her friendships but romance and career as well, with heart and humor.
Two members of the fabulous foursome are Camille (played by Shazam's Meagan Good) and Tye (portrayed by Jerrie Johnson in her first leading role on a series). Camille is a college professor looking for tenure and wrestling with an old flame, while Tye is the successful founder of a dating app for queer people of color who is not so successfully looking for her own love.
Good and Johnson spoke to Screen Rant about the uncanny sense of destiny that brought them together on Harlem, as well as what's in store on the romantic front in the show's first season.
Screen Rant: The chemistry between all four of you is fantastic. How do you bring that joy and vibrance to set? What was the energy behind the scenes for you both?
Meagan Good: It was real, it is real. It transcended from set to real life. Just like the audition process - I mean, me and Grace [Byers] had already known each other, and we are very close. And we had said, "Man, it'd be so cool to do a show together and to be in that space together." Grace had already got Quinn when I was coming into test, and I met Jerrie, and we instantly connected.
And then Shoniqua [Shandai] and I had been on a phone call, like, five years prior. I'd never met her before, and she was like, "I'm just gonna claim that we're gonna do a show together." I'm like, "I claim it too." She said, "We're gonna do it." And then, cut to 2 years later, and we're here.
Once we started to do our table reads and do our rehearsals, we begin to realize we're super, super close, and super, super connected. We get on set, and we're praying together one moment, twerking together the next moment. We're on set living that real-life bond of a tribe; people who love each other and support each other and pour into each other. Then we get off work, and we're going to each other's houses, or we're going to dinner or on the phone or on Zoom - whatever it is. And it's just very real.
I think that shows in the dynamic on the show. You see something that you can't really act. It's something that - if it comes alive in that magical way that it did for us - I think it shows.
Jerrie Johnson: And I will say that this show is a combination and a manifestation of something that all four of us were asking for, individually, in different parts of the world. And then it all came together because we all have a moment like Meagan said of her talking on the phone with Shoniqua or being friends with Grace, or even just me and Shoniqua having a mutual friend circle, or me Grace having a chemistry read and immediately saying some of the same words. It was just such a click.
I feel grateful that, before my mom passed away in 2019, she was like, "Oh, you're gonna be on the show with Boo Boo Kitty," which is Grace's character from Empire. She loves that show, and I feel like she got to experience a little bit of, "My daughter is now going into this different realm."
And my favorite movie of all time is Eve's Bayou. It's the best movie for so many different reasons: Black families, or Black affluent families in the South, and so many different things. To be able to work with Meagan, who was in most of the movies that I watched growing up? I'm like, "Wow!" And now I see her and experience her firsthand, playing this character that I haven't seen her play, and watching her be playful and throw things at the wall.
I've worked with older actors, and they're in their thing. They're going to always do their thing, right? They're not willing to play with you, because they have their way of doing things. The fact that she was so open and so willing to be like, "Okay, let's try this. Let's try." It's this youthfulness that she has that I think is really beautiful and awesome.
The friendship on the show is beautiful, but there's also so many romances that we get to keep track of. Meagan, what can you say about Camille and Ian (Tyler Lepley)? What keeps bringing them back to each other?
Meagan Good: It's so interesting because I think that there's something magical about their connection and their love story, and not really knowing how it's going to end and what's going to happen. I think that we all have those relationships in life, where we're kind of forever connected to someone in some weird way. You connected at some point in life, and you always remember that point and it's so specific.
I don't want to give away too much about Camille and Ian, but it was fun to explore that dynamic of their relationship. Even with Ian, you think like he's just a certain kind of dude, and then he's so sensitive and so artsy and all these things. I don't want to give away too much, but I think people will enjoy their journey.
All 10 episodes of Harlem are currently available to watch on Prime Video.
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