Capturing Black Excellence: Cassandra Freeman and Adrian Holmes at the ‘Bel-Air’ Season 3 Premiere – Essence

With the highly anticipated third season premiering on Peacock on August 15, viewers can sit up for seeing the beloved characters of Uncle Phil and Aunt Viv — played by Adrian Holmes and Cassandra Freeman, respectively — take center stage. The first episode kicks off with a bang, showcasing a shocking ESSENCE photoshoot that showcases the couple as the epitome of black perfection. In the premiere, the duo is portrayed as an influence couple who appear to have all of it: thriving careers, a powerful marriage, and a harmonious family life. However, as the season progresses, viewers will see that even the most perfect couples face challenges, and it’s their love and resilience that may help them navigate the ups and downs of marriage.

“This show is great at sparking discussion and touching on a lot of issues that can be seen as taboo,” Holmes says. “We just want to put an end to that and be a role model for our community so that we can watch and learn. Maybe be a mentor for people who watch and learn and take that back to their families and share what they experienced on the show.”

This season, viewers will see a positive representation of Black love and the strength it takes to beat obstacles in each personal and skilled life. The show continues to construct on its growing popularity by promoting a positive family dynamic that resonates with viewers from all walks of life. In this exclusive interview, Holmes and Freeman speak about the show’s growing popularity, the importance of representing a powerful and loving Black family on screen, and the magic behind the scenes of their mesmerizing photo shoot.

Check out this discussion delving into the heart of the series with two of its most dynamic stars, examining what makes this season a must-see and how the series continues to redefine modern family drama.

ESSENCE: How does it feel to be back for a 3rd season? And what are your feelings about the positive reception the series has received thus far?

Adrian Holmes: Really overjoyed. It’s a blessing to be back for a 3rd season because we got two seasons on top of it, but after the strike, I believe everyone was just so completely satisfied to be working and just so appreciative of what we were doing. I’ve never seen more smiles on set than I did in season 3, and I just felt so uplifted and so grounded. I didn’t even think it could get any higher than it did, and they proved me improper, and it was just a gorgeous experience to see everyone again. And the storylines this season are going to be great. It’s quite a lot of fun this season. Summertime, summer heat.

Cassandra Freeman: Yeah. I believe it was great to come back back. I believe we had quite a lot of recent departments are available in this season, and I believe the reason it was so good is because the individuals who worked there have been fans of the show. So it’s nothing in comparison with fans of the show coming in and becoming heads of departments and really adding to what they were missing as outside viewers.

At the starting of Season 3 you shall be doing a special photoshoot with ESSENCE magazine. What made you select to make use of ESSENCE as the publication for the Power Couple issue?

AH: Well, I believe our show is an excellent example of an excellent platform to acknowledge and rejoice black excellence and black love, and what higher strategy to try this than to start out the way we did with the ESSENCE magazine shoot. It was such an excellent time on set. It looks amazing. We got to look at the first episode and I had a smile on my face the whole time. I used to be just so completely satisfied. It looks so beautiful. And I thank ESSENCE a lot for being an element of it.

CF: I also think that beyond black excellence, it’s an aspirational show. I feel like the show is a gumbo of all the best things about just being us, and what’s higher about being us than being ESSENTIAL. We needs to be at the pinnacle of dream television. Bel-Air has all the time been that, dream television, especially when it first got here out, it was the first time you saw such a wealthy family on prime-time television. And you might watch them every week, and I believe so as to carry that torch, it must be ESSENTIAL. There’s nobody who’s the pinnacle of what black beauty and success means.

Even though Aunt Viv and Uncle Phil are going to undergo some marital issues this season, on a grander scale, their relationship could be very beautiful. So I desired to ask you each — why is it vital for the show to advertise positive family dynamics and positive relationships in the black community?

AH: shows the reality, it really does an excellent job of reflecting the reality that African Americans experience on daily basis. And we wish to point out diversity and all the different sides of it. There are stereotypes that exist, and we wish to point out what’s black excellence, what does it mean to be black? There’s West Philly, there’s Bel-Air Gates, and we’re all black, but now we have different experiences. And we undergo all the ups and downs that everybody goes through.

It’s great to be an element of such a high-vibration project. I work with good people on daily basis who’re so talented and equally enthusiastic about telling vital stories. Bel-Air shines a light-weight on the diversity of the black experience, breaks stereotypes and highlights that our experiences will not be monolithic.

CH: I believe what Adrian said is so beautiful, and I believe it is important so as to add to that, that outside of individuals in the black community, it isn’t surprising that black love exists. I mean, we would not exist. Literally, love is the pinnacle for all times to even begin. For a baby to be born and survive that, it takes love. So it isn’t some myth. We’re just lucky enough to have a stage where we will show it over and all over again.

What’s funny is that it shows black love on every level, from marriage to children to clan. And I believe it is a shame that we still live in a society where it’s like, “Oh, they’re showing black love.” Black love is the pinnacle of what it means to only be alive. It needs to be so normalized.

It’s an inspiring show, but I believe the reason people adore it is because they feel prefer it actually reflects parts of their lives, parts of their family. And so many shows that we watch now are like safaris into other wild worlds where there could be violence and drugs and all of that. And that exists in every demographic on this country. But the love, and I actually think in every demographic, and I believe really any TV show or movie that may put love and forgiveness and redemption at the forefront, is all the time going to be like, “Wow, what a brilliant idea.” Because all of us like violence and revenge in America. But this show is like, “No, let’s lean into another trope that we just don’t explore.”

Uncle Phil and Aunt Viv are staples in black cinema and black culture normally. What was the most fun aspect of playing these iconic characters on screen?

AH: I believe for me, just the reception I’ve gotten from the community and since I’ve been out and people have are available in and told me how this character has affected their lives and their families and their relationships with their children. That’s so vital to me. I believe we do an excellent job of addressing vital issues in a really thoughtful, sophisticated and responsible way. And unfortunately, there aren’t many shows on the air that we will tune in to and have that therapy. And I believe it’s just so beautifully done and I feel honored to be an element of it in such an enormous way.

CF: Exactly. I do not think anyone could imagine what it’s wish to be on a show where people, each person on set, are there to ensure that the family is represented in the best light. That means the lighting department is ensuring that the complexion you see on Zoom matches the complexion on screen. That’s huge.

AH: Philip Banks is such a principled and honest man. He’s such a superb man and I believe that is helped me in my life as well. And when I’m in certain situations, I even have his perspective. I can take into consideration the things that I went through on the show and I can apply them to my life. So that is really helped me so much.

Bel-Air is a brand new interpretation of the original series. How much inspiration did you draw from the original characters when playing this role?

AH: Well, Morgan immediately said, “Guys, these are your characters. We don’t want you to focus on the original. We want you to make them your own.” That took quite a lot of pressure off of us. So we just treated it like one other character, and just wrapped it around ourselves and used what worked and removed what didn’t, and hoped it will catch on. And it did.

But for me, once I auditioned, I actually connected with the role and I could see who he was. Of course, there are traits in the original character that I hope are only naturally there, but I do not take into consideration that when I’m actually preparing and doing the work, because I need it to be authentic, I need it to be you, so I just trust that it is going to be.

CH: Yeah, I agree. I also think they did a tricky job, Morgan Cooper and the producers, which is to forged individuals who possibly even in the event that they don’t seem like people, I believe there’s an essence that is undeniable in the whole forged.

And then I believe the other thing is that individuals think character means, “Oh, this person has a hunchback and a lisp and walks around with a pimp leg.” And it’s like character is just the decisions that individuals make daily, and those decisions are character. So we make the same decisions. The writers create the circumstances for Viv, Phil, Hilary to proceed to make the same alternative. Like, “Oh, it’s 2024, but we know Hilary would still act like this. We know Viv would still do this, right?” It’s about the way they talk and the way they think. Those are character decisions, and the essence of a human being is just what you carry with you. It’s your spirit. So I believe when you did it every other way, I do not think the audience would connect with it because they’d go, “Oh, the writing’s not honest.”

So I really need to commend the writers for doing a very great job of attempting to stay true to the original text. And also consistently, I mean, you may see this season, like every season, that when you really know the vocabulary and the world, you may see how we’re doing, speaking, sometimes putting ourselves in the very same block as the original. And so I believe they do it with a way of flair and spice without making it feel like a parody of the show. It’s like, “No, we remember.” It makes it nostalgic. You think, “Oh, something about this feels so familiar,” however it’s so recent again. I believe what they have been capable of do, this show stands by itself, since it’s something that hasn’t been done this manner and that hasn’t been as well-received.