#Queen Sugar season 5 trailer tackles the pandemic, topical issues

Leading up to the Queen Sugar season 5 premiere on OWN come February 16, the network has unveiled a first-look trailer. We’ve seen some powerful stuff unfold in St. Josephine before, but this takes it to yet another level.

If you look below, you can see the characters through the lens of everything that transpired in 2020, whether it be the onset of the pandemic, the death of George Floyd, unemployment, and the battle to get equal justice for all. All of these stories hit home in personal ways for the Bordelon family, and they have to reckon with the present and future aftermath.

The road to season 5 airing was a far from typical one, and that is something that OWN shared previously in a press release:

During the production stop-down in 2020 due to COVID-19, DuVernay decided to completely revamp the season five storyline to address the very real issues our country was facing through the lens of the beloved Bordelon family and the fictional community of St. Josephine. DuVernay reconceived the character arcs and storylines, writing alongside returning showrunner Anthony Sparks and supervising producer Norman Vance to tackle head-on the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter protest movement that swept the country, and corruption in politics to showcase the specific impact and ramifications these issues have on communities and people of color. Through it all, viewers will see the joy around the pain, and humanity’s ability to persevere and find light in the darkest of times. Led by the talented cast of Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner and Kofi Siriboe, “Queen Sugar’s” storylines continue to delve into important topics such as police brutality, addiction and recovery, and systemic racism, among many others.

After reading that, the takeaway feels pretty simple: You better be prepared to cry — a lot. The struggle is going to be here, but we think that in the end, this show will remain about family and perseverance. These are themes and ideas that are more important than ever within a time like this.

Related News – Queen Sugar renewed for a season 6

What do you most want to see on Queen Sugar season 5?

Share your thoughts in the comments! There will be so much more news to share as we near that first episode airing.