A Fan-Favorite HBO Show Getting A Spin-Off?
A recently departed fan-favorite HBO series may be getting a spin-off, but there are a few conditions to be met first.
It hasn’t even been a full year since Issa Rae’s Insecure dropped its final episode, but, during an interview with ET, the show’s creator and leading lady admitted that she was “ruminating” over giving the series a spinoff. But, because the series just wrapped and Rae is moving on with other projects, including the upcoming Rap Sh!t, it would be a ways down the road – if at all – before she’d decide to push forward with the project. She admits that though it’s crossed her mind, she hasn’t taken a moment and “put pen to paper,” and also wanted to give fans the proper amount of time to “miss the show.”
Another thing she recognizes is that while she and the creative team were thrilled with the finale and their ability to call the shots, some fans weren’t as happy with how the series bowed out. And this is also part of why Rae doesn’t want to rush into making an Insecure spinoff just yet. The show’s creator commented that she wants to make sure the timing and plot behind the idea would be “right as opposed to just doing it.”
Piggybacking off Rae’s thoughts of Insecure’s ending, its showrunner Prentice Penny reminded fans that the characters’ lives weren’t “ending” and that even though we aren’t following them with scripts and cameras, that doesn’t mean that they’ve died, “theoretically.” In a television alternate reality, the five-season running series is still trucking along, with the characters making mistakes, growing, changing, and evolving, which could all play into a spinoff down the line. Penny revealed that the freedom behind knowing that not only were they not killing the characters off, but also how big of a hit the series was, allowed them to “not worry about the perfect ending.” Again, with an attitude like that, the chances of a spinoff are made even greater.
Rae co-created the critically acclaimed Insecure alongside Larry Wilmore, using her already successful web series Awkward Black Girl as a launching pad. The series focuses on several African-American women navigating the strange and oftentimes downright bizarre reality they are finding themselves in. Along with Rae, the series starred Yvonne Orji, Jay Ellis, Lisa Joyce, Natasha Rothwell, Y’lan Noel, Kendrick Sampson, Amanda Seales, Alexander Hodge, Leonard Robinson, and Courtney Taylor. Not only was the show a hit for fans, but critics absolutely adored it. In 2020, Insecure raked in a whopping eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations with Rae also earning two Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Actress.
While we’ll be sure to keep our ears open and eyes peeled for more information surrounding Rae’s Insecure spinoff, we’re also pumped to see her upcoming series, Rap Sh!t. The production, which has also found a home on HBO Max, will take place in Miami and follow two old high school friends, Shawna (Aida Osman) and Mia (KaMillion), who bring their forces together once again to begin a rap group. Rae came up with the idea during the early days of Insecure and wants the series to focus on how challenging it is for women to have stable careers in such a male-dominated business. If Rap Sh!t is even a tiny percentage as full of heart and belly laughs as Insecure was (which with Issa Rae backing it, how couldn’t it be?), we’re sure that it’s going to be an absolute hit. Check it out when it drops on July 21.
