ABC has announced the casting for an upcoming flashback episode of Black-ish, which could lead to a prequel spinoff series. According to Deadline, the cast will include Anders Holm (Workaholics, The Mindy Project) and Tika Sumpter (The Haves and the Have Nots), with Arrica Himmell (Before You Know It) playing the teenage Rainbow in the flashback episode. Also co-starring are Gary Cole (Veep), Mykal-Michelle Harris (Big Little Lies 2) and newcomer Ethan William Childress round out the cast.
The upcoming episode of Black-ish will focus on Rainbow, the family’s matriarch played by Tracee Ellis Ross. The episode could potentially serve as a backdoor pilot for the prequel in question, which allows ABC to contemplate the possibility a little longer before actually committing to anything. At the very least, we’ll get a Rainbow-centric episode of Black-ish, which will air sometime later this season.
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Ellis Ross’ work in Black-ish has earned the actress three consecutive Emmy nominations for Best Actress in a Comedy since the show premiered in the fall of 2014. She took home the Golden Globe for her portrayal of Rainbow back in 2017. It’s already spawned one spinoff, Grown-ish, which airs on Freeform.
The sitcom is currently on its fifth season, which kicked off this past October. However, like many in Hollywood these days, Black-ish creator Kenya Barris left ABC Studios for an overall deal with Netflix last year. Barris’ relationship with ABC was strained by the network’s decision to shelve an episode of the series that addressed the issue of athletes kneeling during performances of the national anthem.
Black-ish airs Tuesday nights on ABC.
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