Lovie Simone takes it all in. With zero signs of slowing down, Simone talks about her love for Keisha, leading Netflix’s Forever, and why resolution in onscreen storytelling fronting Black romance is important for audiences to experience.
Netflix’s Forever series starring Simone and Michael Cooper Jr. unfolds as a contemporary, budding love story between two shy teenagers who have vibrant dreams set in Los Angeles. Created by Mara Brock Akil and adapted from Judy Blume’s 1975 novel, Forever captures teenage heart and a coming-of-age for former childhood friends, Keisha Clark and Justin Edwards, who have a serendipitous run-in with each other at a New Year’s Eve party. The novel known for its adult themes of womanhood and sexual exploration are centralized in Akil’s Netflix iteration—a show that supports a flourishing romance between Black youth.
“We wanted to hang out more before filming but we couldn’t hang out too much because we did have to be strangers in a sense, meeting for the first time,” Simone says to me via Zoom, discussing her Forever shooting schedule in Los Angeles over the span of six months. The actress who grew up calling New York her home received the major opportunity to lead a series that is based on popular literary material. Judy Blume’s early texts were challenged for prying open more adult themes for teenagers yet simultaneously became relished by many young women who sought out guidance for ways of learning more about their sexuality. Forever, released on May 8, has already been greenlit for a second season as audiences optimistically wait for a future that includes Keisha and Justin back together.
The onscreen performances between Lovie and Michael captivated viewers as the connection between their characters grounded the series. “There couldn’t be too much rapport,” Simone explains to me, so their character’s relationship progressed as the actor’s friendship grew in real life. “Those interactions happening in the show were happening for the first time and the excitement and the build up of it all paralleled with Keisha’s world.”
Lovie Simone joins a small but growing category of young Black women who lead dramas in Hollywood. In recent years, it has been a rarity to see a Black woman be the main love interest within a fictional landscape that features a tight-knit Black community with families that hope the best for their teenage kids’ romantic endeavours. When Simone first read the script, she “got so excited because it felt so authentic and so real to teenage Black life specifically and I was just ready to start telling that story after the first episode,” Simone elaborates.
During the audition process, Simone and Cooper were paired together and really were able to get a creative rhythm for how each other flowed with each other as actors and characters. “I had read the book once I got the audition sent to me,” Simone says. “I wanted to have an awareness of the material and I read the book in one sitting. I’m so glad that I did because I love Judy Blume now, and I wish that I was 13 years old reading this in my closet. It’s nice to be a part of something where the script feels the same as the novel, even though it is a different time with different characters of different races.”
Forever’s creator and writer, Mara Brock Akil has a long-running history of lifting up Black women as character leads. Her earlier work—Girlfriends and The Game—exemplified Akil’s tactical ways of being able to tell a multitude of Black stories where the characters’ experiences feel diverse and original. “There was a lot of world building done by Mara before I even got attached to this project,” Simone reveals. All the questions Lovie had about her character, Keisha’s nuances and her track & field passions; Akil had the answers for in the script.
“It was like being with family,” the actress describes what set days felt like filming at staple landmarks across Mid-City, Crenshaw, Inglewood, and more. Akil, a Los Angeles native, added the texture of her hometown to create a palpable story where Black life and love is the source of inspiration for Forever. “Being from New York, there are just different parts of life that exist there,” Simone notes. “But after filming the show, it just opened my eyes so much, and I miss LA because there is just so much Black life and culture that comes out of it.”
In this acclaimed Netflix series, the city of Los Angeles and the musical score can be perceived as its own characters. Selections from artists SZA, FKJ, Tyler, the Creator, Daniel Caesar and many others are featured, and these songs emphasize some of the most moving moments shared between Keisha and Justin. The audience experiences how Keisha lives humbly in an apartment in Windsor Hills with her single mom, compared to Justin who has a very nuclear family who resides in View Park. The teenaged couple has dates that take place at the Santa Monica Pier, on the train, downtown LA cafes, Linden, and Echo Park Lake. Their intertwining paths face hardship as they meet at a time in their lives where love can distract these incoming college students from their future educational and professional careers.
The show’s main focus seems at first to be between two teenage lovers but by the final episode, viewers learn that Forever is more about the self-love we all share for ourselves and how you can always prioritize your well-being over others, no matter how deeply you care about another person.
“It was very important for me that the teenage audience see resolve, even if it might not be the official end. They need to be able to see two teenagers where the audience might not agree with everything they did, but you know there is this self-love that does conquer over this desire to be loved,” Simone states to me her initial reactions after rewatching the series. “I just hope Keisha stays chasing her dream, and I hope that it can involve Justin for the romance of it all.”