Beyond the Gates

Beyond the Gates is the first new daytime soap opera to debut on a major American broadcast network since Passions in 1999, and the first to feature a predominantly African-American cast since NBC's Generations ended in 1991. Created by veteran soap writer Michele Val Jean and co-produced by CBS Studios, the NAACP, and Procter & Gamble Studios, the series premiered on CBS on February 24, 2025. Set in the fictional Maryland suburb of Fairmont Crest just outside Washington, D.C., the show centers on the Duprees, a powerful multi-generational family that is the very definition of Black royalty. Tamara Tunie stars as Anita Dupree, the fierce and glamorous family matriarch and famous singer, alongside Clifton Davis as her retired senator husband Vernon. Daphnee Duplaix plays their elder daughter Dr. Nicole Dupree Richardson, a psychiatrist whose life appears perfect from the outside, while their younger daughter Dani is a former model-turned-momager. Production began on November 1, 2024, at Assembly Studios in Doraville, Georgia, a state-of-the-art facility built on the site of a former General Motors assembly plant. Production designer Bruton Jones oversaw the creation of 27 sets across two soundstages. The show employs a crew of over 200 and completes 20 scenes per day, running through 100 pages of script dialogue -- more than five times faster than a typical primetime scripted drama. CBS planned 238 episodes for the 2025-2026 season, and in May 2025 renewed the series for an additional season with 250 episodes planned for 2026-2027.