Shonda Rhimes‘ ("How to Get Away with Murder," "Scandal") gave fans of her drama-filled shows with leading Black women another reason to celebrate with the debut of "Still Star-Crossed" on ABC last night (May 29). Those fans paid their respects with effusive praise, uplifiting its Black lead actress and diverse cast with hashtags like #StillStarCrossed and geek culture site Black Girl Nerds‘ #StayCrossed:
This is what diversity in entertainment looks like #StayCrossed #StillStarCrossed pic.twitter.com/vQquCKN36z
— Jennelle Alfred (@smurfnell) May 30, 2017
AND THERE IS A BLACK ON BLACK BROWN/DARK SKINNED LOVE STORY THEY’RE PLAYING OUT?! THAT’S IT. I’M DEAD. #StillStarCrossed #StayCrossed pic.twitter.com/XYjhnhxvDa
— Lady Antihero (@LadyAntihero) May 30, 2017
So we have a black woman with not 1 but 2 suitors and a plot that centers her in a period drama #StillStarCrossed #StayCrossed pic.twitter.com/a2Q9RJq9gz
— Mel-leficent (@jane_anon) May 30, 2017
A DARK SKINNED WOMAN is the central love interest for MULTIPLE characters on this show! OMG! #StillStarCrossed #StayCrossed pic.twitter.com/2TjWot2knb
— Lady Antihero (@LadyAntihero) May 30, 2017
Ok, so, #StillStarCrossed is right up my alley. A period piece featuring a prominently melanated cast? Yes, please. #StayCrossed
— Revised. Redacted. (@PricklyPundit) May 30, 2017
#StillStarCrossed is giving me Hamilton feels #StayCrossed pic.twitter.com/5tnIhmkeh2
— Brittany (@Brinista) May 30, 2017
Diversity in period pieces shows how it really was. Remember- The Moors were in Europe for 700 years. #StillStarCrossed #StayCrossed #BGN https://t.co/VDncN11CS4
— Nadine Patterson (@hipcinema) May 30, 2017
Produced by Rhimes’ Shondaland production company and created by Heather Mitchell ("Scandal"), "Still Star-Crossed" adapts author Melinda Taub’s book of the same name as an hour-long dramatic series. The show depicts the imagined aftermath of William Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet," in which the titular characters, who are madly in love despite their their wealthy families’ long-standing blood feud, consecrate their commitment by committing mutual suicide. Their families, the Montagues and the Capulets, are still at war as their home city-state of Verona deals with a new monarch and navigates the conflict’s devastating fallout. "Still Star-Crossed" depicts old Verona as a diverse metropolis whose mercantile aristocracy includes Black nobles—a feature rarely seen in other on-screen Shakespearian period projects.
The first episode introduces Lashana Lynch ("Brotherhood") as Rosaline Capulet, Juliet’s cousin, and follows her and Benvolio Montague’s (Wade Briggs, "Please Like Me") resistance to their forced engagement. Lynch is the most prominently-featured of several Black headlining actresses.