First Wives Club S3 is back! Hear from the cast on what’s to come!

First Wives Club is back with season 3 on BET + and we are in store for another world wind of a ride with Ari, Bree, and Hazel. When Hazel, Bree, and Jayla come together to celebrate Hazel’s wedding at a tropical paradise, the unexpected happens. Hazel copes by throwing herself into work where she clashes with a newly empowered Regina; Bree takes on a new lust for life, diving headfirst into extreme adventure; and Jayla fights to prove herself at her new firm. With old flames, new coworkers, shifting power dynamics, and one epic heist, the girls learn to navigate their feelings of loss to discover what’s really important to them.

New episodes every Thursday!

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to speak with Michelle Mitchenor, RonReaco Lee, and Mark Tallman about what we should expect with this new season.

Cox: Michelle, what can we expect to see with Jayla this season?

Mitchenor: Well, it’s going to be an incredible season where you get to see more from Jayla. There is this blast from the past that’s coming to shake things up this season for her. It’s going to be super fun for the audience to see how she maneuvers this blast from the past and her present situation. Even her partner’s past comes back to the present to shake things up with him, too. It’s going to be cool for you to see how she just juggles it all. I think everyone’s going to have even more fun to see how much fun Jayla is having with all of this. 

Cox: Can you relate to Jayla and the things she is going through? As a strong powered woman with things from her past trying to creep up?

Mitchenor: (Laughs) Yes, I can with people trying to come back into my life. I just even leave the DMs on unread and keep on scrolling when I see messages like that coming in. Look, I just cut it off. I don’t even open them (laughs). 

Cox: RonReaco, we kind of love to hate Gary! How is it playing him?

Lee: Gary is one of those characters that is just different for me to play. I mean, I can be at church and people bring up Gary. I have to tell them I didn’t write this character (laughs). It was new for me to play this type of character who has to redeem himself. 

Lee (contin): I think what you get to see during season 3 is that redemption for Gary. We have been taken on this ride of redemption from season 1 and 2 and now in season 3 you see it all come together. This season is really great for him because Gary gets to pursue a dream. Bree supports him, he writes, throws his hat in the ring, and things take off from there for Gary Washington. 

Mitchenor: I have to interject because I just have to say you have done a great job RonReaco in playing Gary. We don’t get to see a character really redeem themselves in a marriage and be able to continue during this moment with the show.

Lee: I will not lie because I thought with Gary I was going to get one of those scripts during the season like alright everyone it’s been fun but Gary’s written off (laughs). I really didn’t know how long Gary was going to last on the show. 

Cox: Mark playing David has to be tough. I think we get it confused and think he is ego driven, but he is actually more so just determined and can’t see outside of his blinders. 

Tallman: Michael brother, I’m glad you see it that way because I don’t play him as ego driven but more so that he is a character that is so determined he doesn’t understand that in a relationship you put that person first. You can’t put what you are doing outside of the relationship in front of the person in the relationship. It doesn’t matter how impactful or important your career is. 

Tallman(contin): For me I’m excited because season 3 is a shocking and jarring season for David compared to the first two seasons. At the same time, I think it will be the audience’s most relatable season to David because just when you think you are digging yourself right out of a hole, that’s when life knocks you right back down. You just have to see how David responds to it and that’s what’s going to be the most relatable part for the audience. 

At the end, the cast and I enjoyed coming to the agreement that the beauty of First Wives Club is that you see these highly educated, talented, and beautiful black people going through real-world problems. But they also hold each other accountable for a sisterhood and brotherhood standpoint. The series continues to put a positive light on the black narrative in terms of how we have to handle wounded relationships, balance marriage & career aspirations, and be vulnerable enough to accept one’s mistakes and apologies to those affected.