In the golden age of Black Hollywood, which spanned the late 1990s to the early 2000s, we could flip to channels like UPN and BET to see ourselves reflected on a variety of Black television shows. Despite Hollywood’s halfhearted push towards diversity (and the subsequent backlash to this push), it would take years before we’d happen across such widespread mainstream representation again. The 2016 season premiere of HBO original series Insecure ushered in an important new dawn for the industry. The show, which starred Issa Rae as its chaotic lead, portrayed millennial Blackness without gimmicks or pandering. Over the course of its five seasons, Insecure quickly became a cornerstone of Black culture, and its controversial series finale left many of us wondering, “What’s next?”
