The Best Man immediately became a hit with Black moviegoers when it first arrived in theaters in 1999. Malcolm D. Lee’s creation was such a hit that it spawned a successful sequel with 2013’s The Best Man Holiday.
Fast forward to 2022, The Best Man: The Final Chapters are here, bringing back an entire cast of characters that have already been enshrined in Black pop culture forever.
Source: Peacock / The Best Man: The Final Chapters
Not many franchises benefit from years-long popularity like The Best Man franchise has, but that’s for many reasons. Speaking exclusively with CASSIUSLife, Malcolm D. Lee explained why his movie franchises could stand the test of time and resonate with a generation of Black people.
“It’s because it was something that I wanted to see myself. I think that there was a hunger, there was a craving from audiences to see upwardly mobile, aspirational Black characters on the screen that felt nuanced and layered and complex,” Lee explains to CASSIUSLife.
He continues, “And so, they got that with The Best Man and these actors who embodied these characters in a wedding setting. So, I think that’s the reason that these characters are so indelible in people’s minds because they hadn’t really seen too much of it before. Fortunately, it’s through the test of time we got to revisit them 14 years later and now nine years later with the series. So, we just want to keep continuing that. I think people have grown up with them, and some people have been that age when they first started out and are the age of the characters now.”
Source: Peacock / The Best Man: The Final Chapters
Will There Be More Story To Tell Following The Final Chapters?
The Best Man: The Final Chapters, a limited eight-episode series on Peacock, gives those same characters we have grown up with an open-ended closure that leaves room for speculation and wonder.
We don’t know if either Harper’s (Taye Diggs), Jordan’s (Nia Long), Quentin’s (Terrence Howard), Shelby’s (Melissa DeSousa), Murch’s (Harold Perrineau), Candace’s (Regina Hall) or Lance’s (Morris Chestnut) stories will continue. Still, one thing is for sure we won’t mind if they do come back again.
The Best Man: The Final Chapters is streaming now on Peacock.
Photo: Peacock / The Best Man: The Final Chapters
