The Televixen Chats with the Women of The Porter

[Warning: General spoilers ahead.]

Monday night on the next episode of The Porter, Junior starts a gambling sideline backed by Queenie; Zeke’s pursuit of union integration imperils the community; Lucy finds her motivation to go for her dream at the Stardust; and Marlene campaigns to get Eli to support an essential medical clinic.

R.T. Thorne directs a script by Annmarie Morais.

In the final part of my chat with The Porter team during the press day, series stars Mouna Traoré (Marlene), Loren Lott (Lucy), and Oluniké Adeliyi (Queenie) discuss working on the show.

As with the other characters, Henry’s death is the catalyst for change for Marlene and Lucy. “Henry’s passing sparks Marlene’s disillusionment with the Black Cross nurses and creates tension in her relationship with Eli, who’s her direct line of authority above her,” explains Traoré.

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“It makes her realize that the kind of work that she wants to do for her community might not be fully possible within the organization, or she’s going to have to get really crazy about how she’s going to get it done working within that organization. [His death] inches her forward on her process to redefining her dream.”

For Lucy, the awakening is twofold. “Henry’s death in Lucy’s life was a way to segue into the introduction of colourism in Lucy’s story. And that’s kind first revealed when she’s trying to be comforting to Henry’s girlfriend, which leads her now into her new love story, which is all about not just love, but also her wanting to be a star,” she shares.

“After that, it really does catapult her into finding ways to get to the stage and her hunger to reach stardom.”

Lott’s process to navigate Lucy’s emotional arc and protect herself was to clearly delineate the two. “I always separated Lauren from Lucy. So even on set, there are so many incredible actors who stay there the entire day. I can’t do that. I could definitely be crying and then they yell, ‘Cut!’ and I’m laughing,” she points out.

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“Maybe that’s just my subconscious way of not diving too, too deep into Lauren. I can pop right back out and then…pop right back in. It’s better for my mental health.”

Queenie is the outlier character, a self-made boss who’s soon pulling the strings for Junior, which has ramifications for the community. Adeliyi loved bringing her to life. “It was wonderful to play that character because and I would say that mostly because you can’t pin Queenie down. You don’t know what she’s going to do,” she says.

“She represents a lot for so many people, including, most importantly, her Black community that she takes care of. Queenie represents a badass in all of us, really.”

“She was a character that we were not sure if people were going to like, because who doesn’t love a gangster, but there’s so much to her. She is not just that. She has her story, too.”

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“She hails from somewhere and she gives you little pockets of that throughout the series. Mostly, I think she gives people the right [and] the freedom to be who you want to be, and it doesn’t matter what area you are from, because you’re here to live now, you don’t get a do-over. And so I think that’s what she represents.”

Trott says she hopes fans are pulled into the story and stay there and develop “an addiction to each episode.” “I hope they can’t wait to see the next one,” she shares. Adeliyi adds, “[I hope they see] the love of community and how our community loves on each other.”

The Porter airs Mondays at 9 pm on CBC and CBC Gem in Canada and will be on BET+ in the US later this year. In case you missed it, our other coverage of the show is here.

Photos Courtesy of CBC

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