Yeah.

It's just walking into it knowing that you set the tone.

Yeah.

You set the tone for being on time.

You set the tone for being prepared and knowing your lines.

You set the tone for being a positive, good set and everybody having a good day.

And what I do love is that we were each other's checks and balances.

What is that like? Because he's so talented at such a young age.

So what was going through your mind as you were being patient? You know, so

when it didn't get cut, a lot of things, rest in peace to all the projects that got cut during the strike and COVID.

First, let me start at COVID.

when kova happened and a lot of stuff got wiped off the slate and the drop was not one of them i was like okay we made the first cut then when the strike happened and it was still in talks and they were like stay close i said okay they stayed in contact with me so i felt really good about it it was like okay they want this you know i mean fx has been really good when they do put out black Stories, they have been really attentional.

And I do love that.

Snowfall was amazing.

Atlanta was amazing.

okay

And, and all of that, but did you know that it was gonna spark this much response and conversation?

No.

I had no idea.

I was just [laughs]...

And honestly, there's so much good in Hollywood too, so it seemed like the three negative things that I said overshadowed the three million positive things about Hollywood.

But I didn't know.

But I love that there are things that females go through that other females have experienced-

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

And I was working at the airlines, and she always wanted to talk to me about acting.

When we went, we came in like the same class together, so we went to train in Denver.

When we were in Colorado, she wanted to like, we, uh, the Oscars came on that night.

And I watch award shows, but typically do not watch the actual show.

I always watch the pre-show to see what everybody got on-

Uh, biggest red flag.

Biggest red flag.

So Gail, what's your experience been like playing your character Wanda? How's it changed working in this series? And what do you enjoy most about this change of setting and premise?

This series is more a backseat perspective of Wanda and just being open to this new ideology of who she is and where she's headed.

To have kind of mourned a bit of my old Wanda because, you know, she's changed.

She's had a reality shift from traveling to Ghana to... overcoming addiction since she's now a different person.

There's still some remnants, obviously, of who she is at her core, but really being open to what it looks like to have love and loss or to try to really overcome adversity in this uphill battle of outrunning your past mistakes.

It's just been fun.

It's been a really good time because it's also at a point where she has this dream and she's a visionary.

What was it like working in that kind of setting and on a set like that that takes place in the 90s?

Mm-hmm.

So I think sometimes you are the rose that came from the concrete, and then that's how other roses can grow.

So I really push that.

Like, this year we have a student going to Yale.

We have students going to Howard.

We have students all over, and it's just really that inspiration of let us be a support and mentorship to you.

Let us help expose you guys because too, another thing is when we're young, everybody has obviously career day.

[laughs]

Mm.

I was like, "Okay." Wanda Colsol, love her, love her down.

I go to the advisor in the theater department.

I was just like, "Hey, you know, I really wanna act." She told me to keep it as a hobby.

'Cause I knew she had connections.

Tyler Perry, she was, like, plugged in.

She told me to keep it as a hobby.

She went crazy

Let's talk about

how they're great though.

Laurence Listen, we weren't just using anybody.

We used people who knew the era, like very born, raised in LA.

So we can keep it authentic when it came to the music.

People who actually saw and lived and could tell the stories, you know, because with the music, it's also a way to culturally explore and express yourself.

So they killed it.

I feel

So Gail, tell us about the show because you're returning to it now.

Yes.

It's amazing.

It's now a sequel spinoff of Snowfall.

So we're now in the '90s.

You know, Snowfall was the '80s.

We are getting into the rap game.

That nostalgia.

It should.

It should change you.

Like, again, by no means am I perfect.

Am I pretty goddamn close? [laughs] Yes.

Too bad I'm taken.

[laughs] But he makes me want to be better.

He, he loves me so good that I wanna learn how to love him the way he loves me, like, more.

Mm.

I might need to do this.

[laughs] Melanin.

You know what irritates me? Statements like, "If she ain't foreign, she boring." Like I'm not interesting or strong enough, as if, as if there's no possible way my melanin can pique the interest of what's between your thighs or stimulate your masculine, the testosterone that eats at your mind.

Little of you to think so high.

Well, I've got news for you.

This melanin is so powerful, it's made kings of kings rise.

This melanin's weakness is its strength, so even when it's melanin at its worst, it's still melanin at its best.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm not gonna lie, this really feel like with The Drop being in the '90s, it really feel like the '90s.

Even with us, like, here, it reminds me of, like, the MTV and In the Basement.

When you in the, when you acting, like, does each trait that the character takes on, does that have, like, an effect on you personally? How do you, like, get there?

I think personally, we've spent so long building our characters and our character relationships that sometimes we take offense if, like, we think or see our characters doing something or going one way and the writers write it differently.

Sometimes we, we take it a little personal 'cause we like-