Over the Christmas and New Year's holidays, many people participated in nostalgic activities and went to familiar places where they celebrated growing up and growing closer to those around them. Peacock's "The Best Man: The Final Chapters," the series that ends the movie franchise created by director Malcolm D. Lee, could've been the cozy socks around the TV fire in the households of certain Black Gen Xers.
Since its launch with 1999's "The Best Man," the actors and characters have grown with their target audience from young adulthood to middle-aged professionals. The relatability of the characters from the film and its 2013 sequel "The Best Man Holiday" has led to groups of friends identifying members in their own personal cliques by which one corresponds to a member in the cast.
Is someone a Jordan? Uber capable, ambitious, in charge. A Harper? Artistic, single-minded, career-focused. Or even a Lance? Alpha male dealing with life's changes and raising kids in 2022. The cast includes almost all of the original actors: Morris Chestnut as Lance, Melissa De Sousa as Shelby, Taye Diggs as Harper, Regina Hall as Candy, Terrence Howard as Quentin, Sanaa Lathan as Robyn, Nia Long as Jordan and Harold Perrineau as Murch. The series, which debuted Dec. 22 and takes place a few years after "Holiday" in the characters' timeline, catches up with the cast as relationships evolve and past grievances resurface in what the show is calling "a midlife crisis meets a midlife renaissance."
