There is a specific kind of storytelling that The Chi has always done better than almost any other show on television: it takes the things that Black families actually live through, the messiness of co-parenting, the weight of generational trauma, the hard work of becoming a better version of yourself for the people who depend on you, and it puts them on screen without apology or explanation.
Eight seasons in, with the finale now upon us, that commitment to honest storytelling has produced something rare: a cast of characters that the audience has genuinely watched grow up.
Emmett, Tiffany, and Keisha started this show as something close to archetypes: the resistant young father, the woman demanding better, the girl with an attitude. They are ending it as fully realized adults whose complexity has been earned scene by scene, season by season.
Jacob Latimore, Birgundi Baker, and Hannaha Hall sat down with The Quintessential Gentleman ahead of the series finale to talk about what that journey has looked like from the inside.
We asked all three what the single biggest change has been, in the characters and in themselves, across eight seasons.
“We see Emmett resisting being a father, resisting, you know, stepping up to the plate to just being this man we want him to be. Or trying to pursue as much as he can to be the best father he can be, the best boyfriend he can be, the best businessman he can be. And just that pursuit, man, it’s been a journey to watch,” Latimore said.
For him personally, playing Emmett required something specific: the discipline to leave himself at the door. “For me, just leaving Jacob at the door when I pour into Emmett. Just like, what would Emmett do? What would Emmett do? And don’t get so caught up into what I would do. I think that’s an exercise with acting. Especially when the fans are involved and they’re tweeting you like, man, why you say that about my character? You know what I mean? But you gotta let it go. And that’s been a joy.”
“If you go back and watch season one and then season eight, you’re gonna be like, ‘These are totally different people.’ Like you literally watch our characters go from children to adults, from girls to women,” Baker said.
For Keisha specifically, Baker identified the single turning point that changed everything: “I think motherhood was that stamp for Keisha that just, it switched everything…I think she found a purpose through motherhood. I’m excited for everyone to see how that evolves her.”
Hall spoke to what has defined Tiffany from the beginning and carried her through every season, a quality that has never wavered even as everything around her shifted.
“Her willpower, just her willpower, to protect herself and protect her family, to stand up for herself and just move things forward for herself and for her family. I think that’s something we’ve seen her do. We’ve seen her grow and build throughout the seasons. Knowing that she’s important, her family is important, and these are the things that ground her,” Hall said.
The Chi has never romanticized co-parenting. It has shown it as exactly what it is: hard, imperfect, ongoing work between two people who are still navigating their own unresolved things while trying to put a child first. We asked each of them what it looks like season after season to portray that honestly on screen.
“It’s tough. I think we try to just lean into how struggling, how hard that is. We try our best. And shout out to the writers for just leaning into those topics and those themes as well. And it makes us dive in even deeper as actors to say, ‘All right, how can I ground this situation and make it feel relatable to the audience?’” Latimore shares. “And it has shown. From the love outside, that’s my story. That’s my life. And that gives us fulfillment when we leave set and we say, ‘Hey, it’s a wrap on The Chi.’”
Baker spoke to the way parenthood functions in the show as a tool for character depth and as a direct challenge to the audience’s tendency to always call out Keisha and her attitude.
“I think parenthood really humanizes these characters and gives them a layer that helps the audience understand them. Everybody’s always like, ‘Keisha got an attitude.’ Well, her baby’s sick. She’s taking care of three other ones that aren’t hers. I think parenthood really humanizes these characters and makes you understand, gives you compassion for these characters as well,” she said.
“I think it kind of gives you a little bit of reflection. I hate to get so dark, but on Black trauma. Like, the dynamic of our families and how we show up for our children. Because of so much that has happened in our past, it has gotten to this where our families are kind of broken and we’re trying to pull together and give them what we got versus what it really takes to raise a morally good person…I think it’s a great reflection of what’s really happening in our world,” Hall said.
The final season of The Chi premieres on May 22. Check out the full interview.
