Merle Dandridge Recalls the Final Days of Filming Oprah Winfrey's Greenleaf : ‘A Waterfall of Love’
After five seasons on Greenleaf, Merle Dandridge is preparing to say goodbye.
Recently speaking with PEOPLE, the actress — who plays the determined and passionate Grace on the OWN family drama — opened up about the series coming to an end, the emotional last day of filming, and how the show has changed her throughout the past five years.
"It is certainly the end of an era," Dandridge, 45, said of the series' last season, which premieres Tuesday. "I am extremely proud of the show, obviously because of so many topics that it wasn't afraid to address. It started conversations that were taboo before and so I feel like culturally, we were able to inch forward and have difficult conversations that would heal certain generational pains that we've had."
"To have my life intersect with my faith and my career all in the same place has been a great gift. That's the only word I can think of to describe it. We had the time last year while we were wrapping to mourn it and of course, we're still mourning it — that it's coming to an end," she shared. "But the biggest feeling that is coming to the surface for me is gratitude."
Merle Dandridge in Greenleaf
Alongside Dandridge, the series stars Keith David, Lynn Whitfield, Kim Hawthorne, Lamman Rucker and Deborah Joy Winans. Oprah Winfrey also executive produces and acts in the show.
Greenleaf was OWN's first scripted series when it premiered on June 21, 2016. It has garnered 10 NAACP Image Award nominations, including wins for outstanding drama series in 2020, and outstanding supporting actress in a drama series in 2019 and 2020 for Whitfield, 67.
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Though the series — which tells the story of the troubled Greenleaf family and their megachurch in Memphis — wrapped in 2019, Dandridge said the feelings of saying goodbye are still fresh.
"The last day of filming, there were a lot of emotions," she recalled. "Toward the end of our filming process, we had lost three crew members in very different ways. And so there was a sense of family and mourning and togetherness, not only for what we had accomplished together in all those years together, but also in remembering those people who had contributed so marvelously to the Greenleaf legacy."
Though she said "there were a lot of tears" on set, she remembered that "there was also so much love."
"It was just a waterfall of love on love on love. It's not often that you get the opportunity to know what you have built and to be able to really close the chapter and in the way that you want to," said Dandridge. "And the fact that we got to do that, to really love on each other and appreciate each other and savor every moment, that's a gift that we'll always have."
Michael Kovac/Getty; David Livingston/Getty Merle Dandridge; Oprah Winfrey
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Looking back at her time on the series (OWN announced that a spinoff is in development), Dandridge said she's changed quite a bit over the past five seasons.
"When I came to Greenleaf, there was a timidity in my gait," Dandridge admitted. "I was a little reluctant to kind of be upfront like that. And as I walked through this with such powerful people who have become my family — such great thinkers and artists and human beings — my self-confidence and growth edge has expanded."
She added: "I just feel as if I was a flower. I was in a tight bud and at the end of this journey, my petals have come full bloom and it is very gratifying. I feel as if I have learned to express all the beautiful colors in my coat."
The final season of Greenleaf premieres Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on OWN.
