NOW ENTERTAINMENT May 18 Month 00- -24, 00,2025 2023
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A new season of “The Chi” premieres Sunday, May 18, on the linear Paramount+ with Showtime network, and is available to stream on Paramount+ with Showtime. Lynn Whitfield stars in “The Chi”
Cover Story Passing of the crown: A new power rules the South Side in ‘The Chi’ By Sarah Passingham The winds have changed in Chi-town. Following a shocking death in last season’s finale, the women of “The Chi” step up in the series’ seventh season, premiering Sunday, May 18, on the linear Paramount+ With Showtime network, and is available to stream on Paramount+ with Showtime. Season 6’s finale episode opened with (spoilers) a bang — or rather the echo of a bang — and one of the city’s most notorious gangsters lying dead on the floor of his own club. For years, Otis “Douda” Perry (Curtiss Cook, “Carry-On,” 2024) ran Chicago, at times as a respected businessman and even as mayor for a short time, but always as a smooth operator conducting the city’s underworld. Douda had made his fair share of enemies throughout his five-season-long run at the top of his empire, but it
was ultimately his own No. 2, Nuck (Cortez Smith, “Loyalty Over Trust,” 2024), who pulled the trigger. Douda’s fate was sealed as he stared down Alicia (Lynn Whitfield, “Greenleaf”) as she asked for his final words and readied herself to take him out, only for Nuck, who’d recently survived a brutal beating at the hands of his boss, to step out of the shadows and make the shot. Eliminating a common enemy did not, however, make friends of the two. This season, Alicia is decidedly on top, claiming her crown and bringing vital women up with her. While she initially speaks to the peaceful control of the city’s new regime in the official trailer for the upcoming season, it is not long before trouble comes knocking. According to Paramount: “as loyalties are tested and new rivalries are stoked, it becomes clear that there’s only one crown and it will come at a heavy cost.”
If Alicia wasn’t amenable to working with Nuck when they both had guns aimed at Douda, then the deal was done when Nuck killed Alicia’s son Rob (Iman Shumpert, “Them”) in the same episode. “It’s time to get to work,” Alicia says in the trailer. It all comes down on the shoulders of the women of “The Chi” to put an end to the terror that men have inflicted on the city for too long. “To protect this city, we have to clean up these streets ourselves,” Alicia demands of her circle. She is out for revenge for her son as much as she wants to rid the streets of Chicago of senseless violence, staking out targets in the cover of darkness. Meanwhile, Nuck is building something of his own now that he’s replaced Douda in his operation. He’s not like his predecessor, Nuck declares in the trailer, putting his new underlings in their
place threatening, “One of you disrespect me, I’ll kill you.” Returning to “The Chi” this season are Jacob Latimore (“House Party,” 2023) as Emmett Washington; Yolonda Ross (“American Gigolo”) as Jada Washington; Shamon Brown Jr. (“Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”) as Stanley “Papa” Jackson; Michael V. Epps (“Primary Position,” 2023) as Jake Taylor; Birgundi Baker (“Black Lightning”) as Kiesha Williams; and Luke James (“Star”) as Victor “Trig” Taylor. This new season introduces a few exciting guest stars to the Windy City. Phylicia Rashad (“The Beekeeper,” 2024) is Rene, a woman who is able to connect with Pastor Zeke (Daniel J. Watts, “The Penguin”). Wendy Raquel Robinson (“Poppa’s House”) is the generous Riley Dalton and Karrueche Tran (“BelAir”) is Zuri, a determined troublemaker.