The women of The Chi come to the forefront in the explosive seventh season
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 gritty drama’s seventh season.
That finale opened with 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) 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), who pulled the trigger. Douda’s fate was sealed as he stared down Alicia (Lynn Whitfield) 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, it doesn’t take long before trouble comes knocking. Per the press release, “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) in the same episode.
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 South Side for far 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 under 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, putting his new underlings in their place by threatening, “One of you disrespect me, I’ll kill you.”
Returning to The Chi this year are Jacob Latimore as Emmett Washington; Yolonda Ross as Jada Washington; Shamon Brown, Jr. as Stanley “Papa” Jackson; Michael V. Epps as Jake Taylor; Birgundi Baker as Kiesha Williams; and Luke James as Trig Taylor.
We’ll also meet a few exciting guest stars. Phylicia Rashad is Rene, a woman who is able to connect with Pastor Zeke (Daniel J. Watts), while Wendy Raquel Robinson is the generous Riley Dalton, and Karrueche Tran is Zuri, a determined troublemaker.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter following last season’s finale, showrunner Justin Hillian provided a fuzzy look at what’s to come, saying: “We strive to tell a well-balanced story. You know, it’s just like the city, the joy, the pain, the ups, the downs. All of it. And it will all continue . . . It is going to be explosive!”
The season premiere of The Chi airs Sunday, May 18, on Crave1