Lifetime released the trailer for Terry McMillan Presents: Paradise with You, premiering Saturday, November 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The film marks the fourth collaboration between bestselling author Terry McMillan and star Taye Diggs, who plays retiring NFL star Carter Wesley opposite Heather Hemmens as Simone Davis, an interior decorator rebuilding her life after betrayal.
The two meet in Nevis, where Carter has retreated to consider life after football, and their romance complicates quickly once they discover they’re both pursuing the same coveted piece of land, land that turns out to have belonged to Simone’s grandmother. Directed by Patricia Frontain and written by Ejay Jamison, the film is part of Lifetime’s Love of a Lifetime slate and also stars Cynthia Bailey as Simone’s confidante Amber Phillips. Diggs, Hemmens, and McMillan all serve as executive producers.
The release also arrives alongside Tides of Temptation, Lifetime’s first vertical microdrama, which expands the Paradise with You universe through a separate mobile-first story. Premiering back on July 7 via Microhouse Films, the companion series follows Constance, who escapes an abusive relationship with the help of an athlete named Jamal, played by SwagBoyQ, finding her own romantic reset in Nevis. Pairing a traditional cable movie with a standalone vertical spin-off reflects a broader shift in how networks are experimenting with extending a single romantic property across formats built for very different viewing habits, rather than keeping franchise storytelling confined to one screen or release schedule.
The film’s ensemble also includes Troy Brookins and David John Craig in the microdrama, with Autumn Federici and Shelby Stone executive producing that companion project alongside Diggs. McMillan and Diggs previously collaborated on three prior projects together, continuing a creative partnership built specifically around her work being adapted directly for the screen.
With two connected projects now live across two very different platforms, the real test will be whether audiences follow the story from the vertical microdrama into the traditional television movie, or treat the two as entirely separate viewing experiences.