Karen Pittman and Wood Harris have joined as leads opposite previously cast Lovie Simone and Michael Cooper Jr. in “Forever.” Netflix’s upcoming drama series from Mara Brock Akil is an adaptation of Judy Blume’s 1975 novel of the same name. It also features Regina King as an executive producer and director of the first episode.
The series, ordered by Netflix in 2022, explores an epic love story between two Black teens, Keisha Clark (Simone) and Justin Edwards (Cooper Jr.), navigating romance and self-discovery through the awkward journey of being each other’s firsts, set in Los Angeles in 2018. Simone’s character, Keisha Clark, is a confident, smart, and fiery track star with clear post-high school life aspirations. On the other hand, Cooper Jr. plays Justin Edwards, a young man with a nerdy heart hidden in an athlete’s body, aspiring to excel in D1 basketball and surpass his successful parents.
Pittman plays Dawn, a college-educated top executive in corporate finance with an easy elegance that belies her loving but paranoid form of parenting. Justin’s (Cooper Jr.) mother, Dawn, might be strict at times, but it’s always out of love. She has worked hard to give him the things he needs to succeed in life and wants him to make smart decisions.
Harris portrays Eric, a restaurateur with a high school and life degree, the more lenient parent who always plays referee. Justin’s (Cooper Jr.) father, Eric, knows that his son feels immense academic and athletic pressure to obtain a higher education and not mess up the head start his family has worked so hard to provide him. He has a good relationship with his son, and though he’s not as intense as his wife, he has a clear set of boundaries.
This project marks the first series under Mara Brock Akil’s Netflix overall deal, signed in 2020. Akil, who is also the showrunner, will executive produce alongside Judy Blume, Regina King, Susie Fitzgerald, Erika Harrison, Sara White, Reina King, and Shana C. Waterman.