Acclaimed OWN drama Queen Sugar will be making its second season premiere a little earlier than anticipated. Rather than returning in the fall, where it premiered last year, the season will first begin unspooling on Tuesday, June 20th and Wednesday, June 21st at 10:00. The second half of the show’s expanded 16-episode season should premiere sometime this fall, in a similar strategy to Greenleaf‘s spring/summer airing.
Based on the 2014 Natalie Baszile novel of the same name and developed for television by Oscar nominee Ava DuVernay, Queen Sugar follows Louisiana siblings Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner), Ralph Angel (Kori Siriboe), and Nova (Rutina Wesley) as they’re forced to deal with the sudden loss of their father. Despite still in mourning, the trio find themselves in a world they never dreamed, as their father left them in control of his vaunted sugarcane farm. There might be fundamental differences between Charley, Ralph Angel, and Nova, and they all might be coming from very different circumstances, but they’ll have to work together if their father’s prized possession is to stay both functional and profitable.
Along with Greenleaf, Queen Sugar is OWN’s attempts to be taken more seriously when it comes to original scripted content. The network has several successful Tyler Perry production in its stable, but Greenleaf and Queen Sugar mark the network’s first tries toward competing with the HBOs and FXs of the world and considering how strong both shows have been, they’re on the right path toward becoming one of the premier places for scripted content for its target demo.
You can check out a look at the first season finale of Queen Sugar, which made it to my top 25 shows of 2016 list, below.
