‘Homecoming’ Star Weaves Real HBCU Experience Into Character — Andscape

actor Gefry Maja found her character, Simone Hicks, caught up in a love triangle at the top of the CW series’ second season, sparking heated debate on social media. Now, viewers know her answer, and her decision is a central storyline throughout the show’s third and final season, which premiered Monday night.

Maya, a graduate of Clark Atlanta University, got her start as a recurring character on the CW sister series before starring in its own spinoff, which is about at Bridston University, a fictional historically black college in Atlanta. The campus serves because the backdrop for the show as Maya’s character navigates young maturity as a mother and student-athlete, and Maya’s time as an HBCU student helped her portrayal, she said.

On Friday, Andscape spoke with the Los Angeles native in regards to the show’s final season, Simone’s love triangle, and the impact of a TV series set at an HBCU.

What is it like being an HBCU student in real life and playing one on the show?

It’s very coincidental. … In this life that all of us undergo, there are specific things that we do with none expectation that they are actually going to occur. So I feel that having the ability to play an HBCU student from LA was just my thing. It was all the time a part of my goal, and I’m grateful that I had a showrunner like Little Carrollwho saw that in me and gave me the chance to play that role in a way that was reflective of little girls who appear like me, come from similar backgrounds, and just allowed me to honor the undeniable fact that these stories really do matter. … I consider that is my purpose, which is to inform stories.

To what extent is your personality reflected in Simone?

The humanity aspect of acting, basically, is to bring just a little little bit of yourself to the role, regardless of what it’s. I feel most of (Simone’s) personality, by way of the silliness and the little South Central LA moments, though she’s from Beverly Hills. It just would not feel right to not play her that way. Because, again, do not get me incorrect: black is black. So you possibly can be from Beverly Hills, but you could have aunts and cousins ​​who live in Crenshaw or somewhere – it doesn’t matter. I just knew I desired to bring just a little little bit of my L.A. upbringing to the character and really to any character I play. … I just need to be authentic, so I needed to bring my South Central roots to this little Beverly Hills girl.

Season two ends on a cliffhanger, with Simone deciding between two suitors. Will the love triangle be resolved this season?

Absolutely, and I feel it resolves in a way that is more for Simone than for anyone else. And I feel like I’m not saying much because there’s a lot happening for her this season. But I feel by way of love, I feel it resolves for her. That’s a very powerful a part of this puzzle, her and her decision for herself.

What’s it wish to play a task in a love triangle?

Simone had more suitors than I ever had in my life and I’m not mad at her for that. I feel especially with girls, allow them to live, allow them to have their alternative. In retrospect, at my age and at this stage in life, I feel you should not put all of your eggs in a single basket because truthfully, you only do not know. Whether it is a man or a job, life is about living and experiencing, so I all the time encourage women to explore life in all the pieces it has to supply.

What can viewers expect from Simone this season?

I might say resilience because I feel like while you’re younger and also you undergo so lots of the trials and tribulations of life, we do not take a look at it as something that happens to us, but relatively it happens to us. … When you are capable of change your perspective … and you are able to have a look at it through the lens of growth and maturation and evolution, and really give up to life and all the pieces that it has to give you, whether it’s good and higher and different, I feel you only have a unique perspective on coming out of the hearth.

I feel Simone will certainly experience numerous things that may help her grow as an individual, as a girl, as a mom, as an athlete. Simone has so many roles to play. But I feel numerous it’s her resilience within the face of adversity, and it was really beautiful to play this season. … I do know individuals are so invested in Simone and this love triangle since it’s a lot fun. We want the women to win, but at the identical time, life happens, and when life hits you, it changes you. It changes you. … It was really refreshing to play a more nuanced, grounded version of her this season.

What do you think that How will the image of HBCUs impact future generations of scholars?

I feel the impact will just be more visibility and more opportunity to see yourself. One thing I’ll say is just being in business so long as I even have my purpose, that is starting to vary. I consider that this wasn’t a chance that was only for me and my dreams and my purpose and my work. It was really a chance for generations of youngsters who need to go to a historically black college or university, who need to learn more in regards to the legacy, who need to act, who need to play tennis, who need to be a featured character or who need to tell stories. So I feel that chance is incredibly necessary. But I feel the impact is a blessing. … I’m grateful that I can take a look at my art, in all the pieces that I create, as something that is just beyond me. I’m glad that I can serve a generation in that way, so I hope that it inspires people to simply do what they need to do and pursue what they need to pursue.

How necessary was it for the show to portray the problems that took place on HBCU campuses?

As Black people, we’ve a responsibility that we do not necessarily ask for, but we’ve a responsibility to reflect truth, authenticity, resilience, elevation, art, culture, and history. … It’s just too necessary due to how we impact other people, not only our own people, but literally the world. Black culture is all over the place on the planet. … That’s why it is so necessary that history is taken out of colleges. You cannot erase history after which sit here and have fun other cultures and histories because, again, all of that’s in the material of this world, of this country. … We have to offer credit to who deserves credit. And you understand, Black people, that is how we move, that is how we work. So it deserves that quantity of visibility and time and education because … we’re real individuals with real impact and we matter.

This will likely be the last season What was your initial response to the news of the series’ cancellation?

I’m really happy with this season, and though our fate is what it’s, I discussed it before: it’s about quality, not quantity. And I feel the standard of the work that we have done over the course of three seasons has affected people.

My character, being a recurring guest (on ), I didn’t know in the event that they would get attached to that version of that world, especially coming down from the heights that they still are. He’s still doing an astronomical job of celebrating the culture and giving back to the youngsters and families that actually love the show. I didn’t know what we were going to do, and it exceeded my expectations. So I feel how we began and definitely how we ended is rooted in something much greater than how long we have been on the show.