‘Demascus’ Should Be Picked Up By A Network And Here’s Why
Demascus was ordered by AMC in February 2022 and set to premiere at an unnamed date in the following year. Unfortunately, plans changed and the comedy series was axed by the network in January 2023 as a part of a programming write-down. In the year since it was acquired, however, the comedy series had already wrapped production.
“It started out as a play,” shared creator Tearrance Chisholm with VIBE during its screening on Tuesday afternoon (March 14) at the 2023 South By Southwest conference and festival. “I sort of fell in love with the character, because it was me and my wife and the people I know. And I had never seen them anywhere. At the time, I was also a traveling playwright and I was going from one place to place. And I felt like in each location, I became a different person.”
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During its screening at Stateside Theatre, viewers became familiar with the titular character who enters his “Jesus year” as he deals with personal and societal pressures and conflict. Through the series, the 33-year-old goes on a journey of self-discovery using therapy and innovative new technology that allow him to see and experience multiple versions of his life.
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Demascus invites conversation on heavy-handed topics using science fiction, humor, and dialogue. The first episode introduces themes of mental and physical health and how they are viewed in the Black community, generational trauma, code-switching, and more through peaks and valleys of comedic glory and dark tragedy.
“What’s unique about this series is that there’s a sci-fi layer to it, where it’s an interesting way of thinking of therapy, where you can experience different realities, different versions of yourself in different realities to help find a commonality of who you really are,” explained director Solvain “Slick” Naim.
“It’s a bit different than the style that I do. I feel this was more surreal because I wanted to keep the suspense and question of which reality we’re in, so it wasn’t so stylized as a BMF or something that I usually would do. This is more, kind of, a bit ethereal and more composed.”
Starring Okieriete Onaodowan, Caleb Eberhardt, Janet Hubert, and Shakira Ja’nai Paye, Demascus was set to be Martin Lawrence’s return to the silver screen after an eight-year hiatus with a recurring role. Each character exists in different ways depending on Demascus’s reality.
“I play Redd, Demascus’s best friend. I would say that he’s incredibly loyal. He’s incredibly outspoken, doesn’t hold back, and he’s a little wild, shares Eberhardt of his role. “I would say too. There’s a main universe version of Redd, but then also these other versions of Redd. And I guess the common thing is that he is outside of the box. He thinks for himself. And like I said, he’s incredibly loyal to Demascus.”
“When they came to me with the role, I was absolutely blown away. Blown away by her fierceness, her ability to go here, there, here, there. Emotionally, she’s all over the place, but she’s always stoic. So it was cool. A challenge,” Hubert added about her character, Dr. Bonnetville. In the series, she provides experimental therapy to the main character.
“I saw myself very much in her dignity, but also in her fierceness, and also in her. Sometimes she comes out with stuff and you just go, ‘ooh, no she didn’t.’ Because she’s a therapist,” she said. “You’re supposed to stay in that box. That’s always sort of been my crutch to bear…people expect me to be the same character that I always played for years. And that’s not who I am. So she’s much more closer to me than other roles I’ve done.”
While Demascus awaits a permanent home, the cast and creators are hopeful the series lands on a platform where it can grow and evolve into its full potential.
“We’ll figure that part out, and then my only hope after that is that people watch it and have as much fun watching it as we had making it,” shared writer and director Ted Witcher.
“I’m just hoping for a place where people can see it [and] that’s on a base level,” added Chisholm. “I think the more people who can see it, the better. And I think a lot of people are going to see it and see themselves and see people that they know and people they haven’t seen on TV before.”
