STARZ Celebrates Black Women, Friendship & Harlem in New Comedy

Santa Monica, Calif. – April 8, 2021 – STARZ released the official trailer and key art today for its new comedy series “Run the World,” created by Leigh Davenport (The Perfect Find, “Wendy Williams: The Hot Topic,” BET’s “Boomerang”) who will executive produce alongside showrunner Yvette Lee Bowser (“Living Single,” “black-ish,” Lionsgate’s “Dear White People”). The new STARZ Original Series will premiere worldwide on Sunday, May 16 across all STARZ platforms including at 8:30PM ET/PT on STARZ in the U.S. and Canada, and will air day and date internationally on the Starzplay premium streaming platform across its complete footprint in Europe, Latin America and Japan.

 
Set in Harlem, “Run the World” follows a group of smart, funny, and vibrant thirty-something Black women – fiercely loyal best friends – who live, work and play in Harlem.  As they strive for world domination, they each navigate career highs and lows, hookups and heartbreaks that causes them to re-evaluate who they are and where they are going.  At its core, it’s an authentic and unapologetic show about enviable friendship and not only surviving – but thriving together.  The series, which exemplifies STARZ #TakeTheLead commitment, stars Amber Stevens West (“The Carmichael Show”) as “Whitney,” a perfectionist who almost always plays by the rules; Andrea Bordeaux (“NCIS: Los Angeles”) as “Ella,” an audacious romantic, who is figuring out what she truly wants both personally and professionally; Bresha Webb (“Marlon”) as “Renee,” the vivacious, soon-to-be-divorced diva with a seemingly thriving career; and Corbin Reid (“Valor”) as “Sondi,” an erudite professional who begins to reevaluate both her career and personal priorities.

 
“Run the World” also stars the previously announced cast of Stephen Bishop (Moneyball, “Imposters”) as “Matthew,” Tosin Morohunfola (“Black Lightning”) as “Ola,” Erika Alexander (“Living Single”) as “Barb,” Nick Sagar (“Queen of the South”) as “Anderson,” Jay Walker (“Grey’s Anatomy”) as “Jason,” and guest star Tonya Pinkins as “Gwynn” (“All My Children”). The series is produced by Lionsgate Television.

 
STARZ recently launched its #TakeTheLead initiative, the company’s comprehensive effort to deepen its existing commitment to narratives by, about and for women and underrepresented audiences. The network released an inclusion study in partnership with UCLA’s Center for Scholars & Storytellers, which revealed that Starz leads the industry with 63.2% series leads who are people of color, 54.6% female showrunners and a 75% female executive team.