CBS is gearing up for the premiere of its new daytime drama series ‘Beyond The Gates’ for a 2025 debut.
The series will be the network’s first new soap in years and the first daytime soap opera to feature a predominantly black cast in over 35 years.
The last Black daytime soap was NBC’s short-lived ‘Generations,’ which launched in 1989 as a half-hour daytime drama and was reportedly the first U.S. soap to center around a Black family from its inception. Also, Fox’s 2015 hit drama ‘Empire’ was regarded by some as a soap opera, though one that aired in primetime.
The series will air in place of ‘The Talk’ as the first offering produced by a new CBS Studios/NAACP production venture partnership with P&G Studios, a division of Procter & Gamble.
Per the official press release:
Beyond the Gates takes place “in a leafy Maryland suburb just outside of Washington, D.C., in one the most affluent African American counties in the United States,” according to the official logline. “At the center of this community are the Duprees, a powerful and prestigious multi-generational family that is the very definition of Black royalty. But behind these pristine walls and lush, manicured gardens are juicy secrets and scandals waiting to be uncovered. And those that live outside these gates are watching closely.”
The daytime drama’s cast boasts Tamara Tunie (As the World Turns, Law & Order: SVU), Clifton Davis (Madam Secretary, Amen), Daphnee Duplaix (One Life to Live), Karla Mosley (The Bold and the Beautiful), Alex Alegria, Lauren Buglioli (Florida Man), Brandon Claybon, Timon Kyle Durrett (Queen Sugar), Sean Freeman, Ben Gavin, Marquita Goings (#Zatima), Jibre Hordges (grown-ish), Jen Jacob, Maurice Johnson, Trisha Mann-Grant, Mike Manning, RhonniRose Mantilla, Ambyr Michelle, Colby Muhammad and Arielle Prepetit.
Michele Val Jean — whose myriad soap credits include B&B, General Hospital and Santa Barbara, as well as Generations, daytime’s first Black family-focused soap — is the creator, executive producer and showrunner of Beyond the Gates, which was developed by CBS Studios and the NAACP. Additional EPs include genre vets Robert Guza Jr. (GH, Port Charles, Santa Barbara) and Julie Carruthers (All My Children, GH, Port Charles, Santa Barbara), as well as Sheila Ducksworth (Soul Food), Derrick Johnson, Leon Russell, Kimberly Doebereiner and Anna Saalfeld.
Paramount+ With Showtime subscribers will have access to stream Beyond the Gates live via the live feed of their local CBS affiliate, as well as on demand; Paramount+ Essential subscribers will have access to on-demand the day after each episode airs.
Get into the official first teaser and snaps below via CBS.
The series premieres Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, at 2 pm ET.
