Season 2 of Diarra From Detroit has taken the Paramount+ show to another level, as Diarra and her friends have gone from looking for one missing guy to a full-blown organized crime adventure. That means even more for Aja and Mr. Tea to deal with, as they do their best to help Diarra while they’ve also got their own problems. But was the second season just as exciting off-screen?

Stars DomiNique Perry and Bryan Terrell Clark joined TVBrittanyF.com for a chat about the return of Diarra From Detroit. The actors spoke about what they were most excited about in Season 2, and what the filming experience was like. Plus, what would they consider the highlights?

Brittany Frederick: When you learned Diarra From Detroit was returning for Season 2, what were you most excited about revisiting?

Bryan Terrell Clark: We get to come back and be working actors. [Laughs.]

DomiNique Perry: We get to come back and work. We get to come back and be in Atlanta, which is amazing.

Clark: It’s such a joy to be on this set. I know that sounds crazy… but we’re gushing over each other because we’re such fans of each other’s talent and we’re such fans of each other’s work. Also, even as people, Diarra [Kilpatrick] has done a really good job of casting and hiring good people. So you show up to work every day, just ready to give your all. And so I was really, really excited to come back and see like what that felt like in a new season.

Perry: We were reading as it was going, so we didn’t know a lot. We also didn’t even know a lot of the guest stars that [were] going to be [on the show]. So we were just excited as anybody else. We were like oh my God, we have Glynn Turman here today! It was just exciting.

Clark: For those of you who haven’t seen Season 1—Season 1 is an adventure of finding this lost guy. Season 2, the world gets even bigger. So if you’re a fan of noir, if you’re a fan of genre, this is going to be your type of show. But also, if you’re just a fan of comedy, Diarra in Detroit is also going to be your show.

That leads to a very interesting component of the show. With all of the wild things that happen around your characters, what’s the trick to then keeping them grounded so they still feel realistic?

Perry: Shoutout to Diarra for writing these grounded characters. A lot of times, a lot of stuff is this very reality that Diarra has actually been through. With Tea, Tea is literally Brian in so many different ways. It’s like she just wrote, to me, [his] characteristics as a person. Even Aja [is] written after one of her best friends. It’s kind of like hey, I’m going to just write my friends and we’re just solving stuff in the city of Detroit. So I think that’s what keeps it grounded. It’s on the paper to me, as well as how we portray it.

Clark: I think it’s about the tone of the show, and the tone of the show is what makes it so unique. It is an hour, but it is a comedy, but it’s a dark comedy, and it’s a mystery, and it’s in the format of a noir. I mean, watching her walk in [during] Season 2 in that trench coat with that smoke and that voiceover-like, you can’t tell me I’m not in a full noir, and then all of a sudden it goes straight Detroit.

Perry: And then also kudos to the directors and things of that nature. We never did, but even if we had ever tried to get off of the main gist of the characters—it’s like oh, you’re getting a little comedy, pull it back. There are times where I’ve literally got a little bit too comedy, and it’s like okay, pull it back. They know how Diarra wants her show, and it’s like let’s just stay there.

Clark: In the same way that there’s a tone to the writing, there’s a tone to the acting style of the show. It ‘s really trusting the words, it’s really trusting the scenarios that are written, however ridiculous. You’ve really got to lock in and ground yourself in the reality of the stakes of what’s happening. And I think when we lock into the stakes, that’s what keeps it from being so silly.

Did you have particular favorite moments or aspects of Season 2?

Clark: Season 2 is summertime sexy. It’s adventure. It’s Indiana Jones. It’s it’s going down another delusional rabbit hole with Diarra, but this time you’re getting to see some other aspects of Detroit and of the underworld of Detroit that you didn’t see in Season 1. The world is bigger and the adventure is bigger, but that’s what summertime feels like. Summertime feels like I’m gonna go outside and just let the day take me kind of thing.

And you get a lot of of amazing, amazing guest stars. I would say it’s it’s more violent. It’s a lot more shooting. It’s a lot more violent. But the world of the show is bigger, and I think you’re going to enjoy the expansion of that world in Season 2.

Perry: And the fact that we get to stretch, too. The fact that there’s some action involved, where we actually can get physical and things of that nature, and stretch our acting talent. It’s some drama in there, and then it’s also some comedy as well, and then even me having to portray another character. Without giving it away, it’s fun.

Diarra From Detroit streams Wednesdays on Paramount+. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Paramount+.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.