Eight seasons. That is how long The Chi has been telling the truth about life on the South Side of Chicago, about the violence and the love, the loyalty and the betrayal, the fathers and the sons, the women holding communities together while the men figure out who they are.
The show, created by Lena Waithe and now streaming exclusively on Paramount+, is the longest-running Black drama series in premium cable and streaming history. And on May 22, the final season premieres.
It ends with 10 final episodes rolling out weekly every Friday, a send-off that gives the show the kind of deliberate, unhurried farewell a series of this cultural weight deserves. The stakes, according to the show’s own marketing, are existential. Life or death choices have to be made. Legacy, conflict, joy, and pain collide in what Waithe and her team are calling the most emotionally riveting season yet.
At the center of that final season, as they have been since they joined the show, are Trig and Shaad, two of the show’s most morally complicated men, played by two actors who have spent years finding the humanity underneath the complexity.
Luke James plays Trig, a man who came home from prison determined to be something better than what the streets shaped him into, navigating the impossible distance between who he wants to be and what the world keeps asking him to do. Jason Weaver plays Shaad, a man whose loyalty runs deep, whose past is complicated, and whose presence in the show has forced the audience to reckon with what it means to hold someone in grace even when they have done things that are hard to defend.
They are not heroes. They are not villains. They are men. And playing men like that, men the audience is asked to hold in tension, to love and be frustrated by simultaneously, requires something specific. We sat down with James and Weaver ahead of the series final season to talk about what that work has looked like from the inside, what this show has done to how they see themselves as Black men, and what it means to be in the final chapter of something that has mattered this much.
[Interview has been edited for length and clarity]
QG: Both of your characters are morally complicated. You’re not really fully heroes, not really fully villains. The writers keep the audience in this tension with both of you. What is it like to approach those characters in that tense way?
Luke James: It’s challenging. It’s challenging working with the duality. And that’s also fun. Every day, it’s not just something we can walk in the park. It’s emotive. It’s a lot of things that create conviction within you because of things you’ve experienced in your personal life and you bring all of that to it, but also the writing is all there. So it’s the situational. The danger of all things…it’s just being honest in those moments. It’s great work. Really great work to really find the nuances in that space because that’s who we are. We’re complex.
Jason Weaver: Duality is part of the human experience. So there are times where you can be the hero in the story. There are times where you could potentially be the villain. And I think what Lena and the writers have been able to successfully do is have those characters so rooted in reality to where it really shows what being a human being is really all about. So we explore how they may not be great at times, but they have redemptive qualities. At their core, like who they really are and what they represent and stand for. I think that’s one of the things that resonated so well with the audience and where people identify with it so much because we all do that as human beings and we all face similar challenges.
QG: The Chi is a show about the South Side of Chicago, but it’s also about the complexity of Black masculinity. How has playing these characters helped you personally navigate that space?
Luke James: Deeply, deeply. It’s expanded my heart, my humanity, and how I present, how I show up, and how I see people. How I receive people. It’s deep in my well of empathy for the world, for all people. I think that all people deserve grace and everyone deserves love and a space to be seen. And I don’t feel ashamed about that. Everybody loves in different ways, and that’s a beautiful thing as long as they’re happy, as long as it’s love. And it’s okay to talk. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to say, man, I need help. I don’t understand. It’s okay. All the things. It’s important that we are there for each other.”
Jason Weaver: I think one of the things you really touched on is vulnerability, that we’ve displayed with these characters. It’s taught me, as a Black man, hey man, it’s okay to feel vulnerable. I’m from the South side of Chicago and I grew up with this mentality of, hey man, I got to be like this because the world’s going to treat me like this. And if I’m not, I got to stand on my own two feet, I got to be strong. And what this show has taught me is that, hey man, it’s okay. You’re not always going to have the answers. It’s okay if you want to shed a tear and release that energy, man, so that your spirit can clear out and your heart and your mind can clear out. Hey man, it’s okay to talk to your brother. Share — maybe even intimate details about your life where you are looking for guidance or where you’re looking for reassurance. It’s okay to try to seek that advice from your brother and to share ideas with one another.
From the men’s circle, to explore mental health, to even what Luke was talking about, even having a more open view when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues. I think that has not only helped me a great deal, but helped other Black men in the community develop a deeper and more meaningful understanding as to what that is. Because we have our own brothers and family members and friends who are part of that community as well, that maybe before this show came on, we weren’t really willing to have a conversation and talk about their lives and their experiences. But now this show has allowed us as Black men to feel, I guess, safer to have those kinds of conversations.
Luke James: It’s given us a space to talk. Grace to talk about it. Hold each other accountable. Learn. Each one teaches one.
The final chapter begins May 22. Ten episodes. Every Friday. On Paramount+.
