In today’s current TV landscape, you'd be hard-pressed to name a mystery series with a comedic twist and a millennial Black woman at the helm; however, this is precisely what you get with the new BET Plus show Diarra from Detroit.
The series is set in the Motor City and follows Diarra Kilpatrick’s TV character Diarra, a soon-to-be-divorced teacher who embarks on an unlikely murder mystery after being ghosted by a date she met online. While most people would take a person not answering texts and calls as a sign the individual is not interested, Diarra reasons that there is more to keeping this potential new beau away and decides to investigate the matter. As she does, she's taken down a journey full of twists and turns.
The What to Watch team got to speak to series star and creator Kilpatrick about her new project, and she dove right into what sparked her idea to create the show and how it's a "love letter" to the city of Detroit. Plus, she shared what it was like working with Hollywood vets Phylicia Rashad (The Beekeeper) and Morris Chestnut (The Best Man: The Final Chapters).
Read our full interview with the actress and creator below.
How did you come up with the idea for Diarra from Detroit?
Kilpatrick: It's a lot of things coming together. I'm a thinker and things kind of percolate in my head for a while. My mother was a teacher, and I love that profession, I had great teachers, Detroit Public School teachers, and I love just highlighting how far they go to accomplish their mission. And I liked the idea of a character that is "Captain Extra," you know, that will take anything to the tenth degree.
I love detective stories. I watched them with my granny growing up. I have a lot of nostalgia for them. I wanted to edge it up, I never saw Columbo getting on the side, I never saw Jessica Fletcher on a hot date. I felt like it was time for that for this generation.
And then the other thing is just, I like human stories. I like commenting on what's happening now. So the ghosting thing, my girlfriends talk about it all the time, and they talk about it so nonchalantly… I thought whoa, whoa, whoa should we hold up a minute and talk about how prolific this is? So I was just wanting to kind of wrap that all together.
And also of course, a love letter to my city. I think Detroit is just like New York or LA in that has so many stories to tell and is a character onto itself, and deserves to be seen on the world stage.
How much of the real Diarra is featured in the Diarra character?
Kilpatrick: I think the biggest similarities that we share are just the complexities. I started when I first came here [Hollywood] just acting and I would find the characters a lot of time, the female characters, or the Black female characters, they wanted you to be all one thing. Like you're the sassy one, or you're the sexy one or you're the whatever one. And I like to get 360 degrees around a person.
And I think Diarra is quirky and sexy, she's smart but she also does dumb s**t you know. I think that duality without it being a contradiction is what makes us human. I just wanted to see that quirky humanity that I think I have and wanted to see it in the character.
[Laughing] Of course the messiness of her, the stuff she's doing, Diarra Kilpatrick is doing none of that. Diarra Kilpatrick is at home with her husband and her 3-year-old. I am not running around the streets of Detroit chasing down mob bosses. That's not my bag. But that's what makes her so fun, she's willing to jump into danger for things she cares about. And that's what we share. We're both passionate women.
What was it like working with the legendary Phylicia Rashad? Her maternal role in the show is a far cry from Clair Huxtable.
Kilpatrick: It was really beautiful to have the opportunity to work with her. I come from the theater… I've seen her in a lot of different plays, Gem of the Ocean, Raisin in the Sun, A House with No Walls, I've seen her in a lot of stuff. So it was really nice to have her say that she loved the writing and the work. She brought in her queenliness and she floats on air. And she also came in so game.
[Laughing] There was a crack house that we were working in, I was like "is this a working crack house?" It was so dusty in there, it was so dirty. The production design team really killed it… And she was so game. She went up and down the steps a lot of times and never complained, and I just love that about her. Even after being in the game for so long, she's just excited to do the work.
And were you also thrilled to work with Morris Chestnut?
Kilpatrick: It was definitely like a 16-year-old Diarra dream come true… I think the joy of it with MoMo is going from icon to just like friend. I mean he's a really solid dude, me and my husband were like "Morris Chestnut is really great." He's Morris Chestnut for a reason, and you start to see that immediately. His work ethic, his heart, he's just a good dude.
What are you looking forward to watching besides Diarra from Detroit?
Kilpatrick: I have been so deep in promoting this show, that when I get a second, I am with my baby. I really am excited to see Poor Things. I feel like just from the trailer, it seems like the kind of stuff where I wish they made Black movies like this.
Episodes of Diarra from Detroit stream on BET Plus.
