Dewayne Perkins, known for The Blackening and The Studio, is independently releasing I Swear We’re Friends, a six-episode digital “skitcom” launching exclusively on YouTube this fall. Each episode is inspired by a different beloved show, including Girlfriends, Succession, 24, My Wife & Kids, Charmed, and Touched By An Angel, blending nostalgia with a distinctly modern comedic sensibility.
Perkins, who got his start in Chicago’s improv scene with his group 3Peat before The Blackening‘s success brought him wider industry attention, leads the main cast alongside Devere Rogers (Abbott Elementary, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul), Brian Jordan Jr. (Sistas), Philemon Chambers (Beauty in Black), and Cameron J. Ross (The Summer I Turned Pretty, Boomerang). Guest stars include Daryl Stephens (Noah’s Arc), Steven G. Norfleet, Courtney Taylor, Tracie Thoms, Justen Ross, and Jermelle Simon, with Grammy winner Durand Bernarr performing the show’s theme song.
The project directly addresses a gap the show’s own release materials point to: two decades after Noah’s Arc, Black gay male friendships remain rarely centered in comedy. Rather than explaining Black queerness to an outside audience, the series is built to let Black queer men simply exist as funny, messy, complicated friends, without a framing device aimed at outsiders. Perkins both wrote and directed all six episodes, co-writing with James Rogers III, Devere Rogers, and Mark Wright, with Sade Ndya serving as director of photography.
The first two episodes premiere October 14, followed by episodes three and four on October 21, with the season concluding October 28. The series is produced by Nance Messineo and Cole Santiago of Ex-Girlfriend Co. and Natasha Forouzannia, with post-production handled by Skapa Films.
The release lands amid a packed stretch for Perkins. He’s set to return to Apple TV’s The Studio, is currently writing The Blackening 2 for Lionsgate, recently joined the cast of Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi’s directorial feature Wrong Number, and is developing a new comedy series at Hulu that he’s attached to write, executive produce, and star in, with Stephen Curry, Erick Peyton, and Sharla Sumpter Bridgett executive producing through Unanimous Media. He also brings his one-man show, How Being Black & Gay Made Me Better Than You!, to Brooklyn’s Bell House on November 9 as part of the New York Comedy Festival, following a sold-out run at this year’s Netflix Is a Joke Fest.
With a release calendar this full and a direct creative stake in nearly every project he’s attached to, I Swear We’re Friends looks less like a side project and more like the latest piece of Perkins building a body of work specifically centered on stories he’s said rarely get centered elsewhere.