Rolando Boyce On Building The Father-Son Friendship Bond With Emmitt On ‘The Chi’

After an eight-month hiatus, the wait is over for the return of the Showtime series The Chi starring Jacob Latimore, Iman Shumpert, Curtiss Cook, Luke James and Rolando Boyce.

The hit show, which returns to complete its sixth season and was just renewed for a seventh season, explores life in South Side Chicago (also known as “The Chi”) among Black residents. It examines their struggles to overcome challenges, strengthen their community, and support and protect their friends and families.

The Quintessential Gentleman recently spoke with Boyce who portrays Darnell, the father of the character Emmett played by Latimore.

Throughout the series, Darnell is shown attempting to connect with his adult son, who has children of his own, while learning how to set an example for his son to be a better father to his children than he was to Emmett.

The Chi - Rolando Boyce

“It’s a beautiful thing the way that Lena [Waithe] and Justin [Hillman] wrote the show. [When the show] started off, the father and son didn’t really know each other. There was this division between them. They got to know each other a little bit better each season, and it was very natural, something that really could happen in real life. And through their time [together] they got to know and trust each other and they kind of lifted each other up. They created not only a father-son bond but also a friendship bond,” Boyce shares.

For the father-and-son friendship to work onscreen, the bond needed to be there off-camera too. ‘I want to say that the same thing happened off-screen for as well,’ Boyce said regarding the authenticity of his onscreen chemistry with his television son.

“The dynamic really works so well between Darnell and Emmett. I think that because their relationship got really tight and Darnell could see his son drifting off into a place where it wasn’t going to be safe, meaning with Douda and with all the things that Douda was bringing to Emmett that he’s trying to protect him as a father in the best way that he can,” he added.

“Jacob is an incredible actor but also an incredible human being. He has a great head on his shoulders for such a young man,” Boyce said praising his co-star. “We’re both clowns, we like to joke around a lot. I like to work out, he likes to work out. I try to work out with him but he’s half my age so I can’t really keep up with all the things he does. I like to run so I’ll take him out. We’ll run around the lake, at least every season…and I think that that helps on screen because it’s real, it’s not like we’re pretending to like each other or love each other on set, we genuinely do love each other.”

Darnell was initially portrayed as a devoted father to his younger children, but he was estranged from his eldest son Emmett, and had a tumultuous relationship with Emmett’s mother, Jada.

“I say the number one thing that surprised me was how they allowed him to know how to love and to be a better person, a better man, which was an incredible arc.”

Boyce even shared that there were jokes in the makeup department during the season about when his character would mess things up with his son and his mother. But the writers threw everyone off with a surprise proposal during season five.  “I didn’t see it coming. [In season five] I didn’t know at the end of the season that he’d be proposing [to Jada]… So it was really a beautiful thing,” Boyce said.

There are lots more surprises to look forward to this season on The Chi, which returns to Showtime and streams on Paramount+ on May 10.

Photo Credit: Leah David