After a long run on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), the Ava DuVernay-helmed series Queen Sugar will gear up for its final run in 2022. The announcement comes on the same day that the Season 6 finale is set to air. The good news is, the decision to end the series is completely creative, and the network is fully supportive of bringing the story to a close.
Queen Sugar follows three siblings: Nova (Rutina Wesley), Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner), and Ralph Angel Bordelon (Kofi Siriboe), who needed to band together and decide what to do with an 800-acre sugarcane farm in Louisiana after the sudden death of their father. Across its run, the show made history by featuring a predominantly Black cast and crew and not shying away from themes such as racial profiling, judicial bias, and structural racism.
After revealing the series will come back for one final season, series creator and executive producer DuVernay said she is extremely proud of the work the series was able to accomplish both creatively and by employing workers from all backgrounds along the way.
When speaking about what’s ahead for the final 10 episodes, DuVernay said she already knows how the series is going to end, but they need to work on the best way to get there:
"I will say it’s about envisioning the best path for that end. I didn’t think about how to get to the end, I just know what the end will be. I’m excited about where it’s all going, so, as we start writing more, the adventure will be to take steps to the get to the end of the journey.
I think it’ll be surprising, but also, my hope is that this is like some of the best series where the end feels like a surprise and it also feels like the only thing that could’ve been done. That’s my goal, you know? We’re definitely studying the great ends of series that we love, and something that feels unexpected but inevitable in the best way is what we’re striving towards."
It’s not a bad moment to call it quits, since Queen Sugar took a dip in ratings during Season 6. In 2021, the network made the decision to air two seasons, since production got delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant that, after an almost two-year hiatus, Season 5 premiered in early 2021 and then Season 6 debuted in September, just five months after the previous season wrapped. Ending with Season 7 means the series gets a chance to round off its storylines, rather than getting abruptly cancelled because of low ratings, like we've seen happen with countless other shows.
Queen Sugar premiered in 2016, and was adapted by DuVernay from a novel by author Natalie Baszile. Duvernay directed the first couple of episodes and then handed it over for a slate of all-female directors who were given opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have.
The Season 6 finale of Queen Sugar airs tonight at OWN. The network is yet to reveal a release date for Season 7.