Ava DuVernay’s ‘Queen Sugar’ Gets Second Season Order, New Trailer

By Sameer Rao Aug 02, 2016

Ava DuVernay‘s upcoming OWN series "Queen Sugar" received the best vote of confidence a new show can get: a second season order before the first episode airs.

Shadow and Act reported Monday (August 1) that Oprah Winfrey‘s network renewed the series, whose first season premieres on September 6, for a 16-episode second season. "When we saw the first cut from Ava, we knew right away that we wanted a second season," OWN president Erik Logan said in a statement cited by Shadow and Act. "We think viewers are going to connect with the deeply layered characters and powerful story and [we] are excited to be able to share with them Ava’s director’s cut on premiere night without interruption. We are proud to be a network that supports a filmmaker’s creative vision."

"Queen Sugar," based on Natalie Baszile’s book of the same name, tells the story of three estranged siblings brought together by their father’s death and his directive for them to run his Louisiana farm. Rutina Wesley ("True Blood"), Dawn-Lyen Gardner ("Heroes") and Kofi Siriboe ("Awkward.") portray the three siblings. 

DuVernay and Winfrey co-created the show. As we reported in January, DuVernay—per the guiding mission of her distribution network, Array—intentionally chose female directors to helm each episode. Those directors, many of whom are women of color, include Victoria Mahoney ("Yelling to the Sky"), So Yong Kim ("Treeless Mountain") and Tina Mabry ("Mississippi Damned").

Watch a new extended trailer above.