On this edition of THE INTERVUE, we are getting ready to say farewell to “The Good Fight” on Paramount+. In the final 6th season of their electric series, The Good Fight. A spin off from the original series The Good Wife, the Emmy-nominated series has masterfully explored everything from racism and hate crimes, to extremist violence and national threats, pushing creative boundaries, and taking Hollywood by storm with its bold, signature and innovative content.
Helping us to say goodbye to the series are TGF actors Michael Boatman who plays Julius Cain, a lawyer and an equity partner at Lockhart & Gardner & Nyambi Nyambi who plays Jay DiPersia, the firm’s investigator!
Michael and Nyambi, how you guys doing today?
MB: I am doing great!
I cannot believe that the good fight is ending in a few short weeks. It was a wonderful series.
Michael Boatman (MB): It’s hard. It’s hard to believe because it’s been such a big part of both of our lives all of our lives.
Well, my first question is this season also tackles current topics such as Roe v. Wade, voting rights, Cold War aggressions, anti-vaxxers, the metaverse, Antifa and much, much more. The question I have is how important it is to create such storylines that reflect on what’s happening in the world up today.
MB: I think it’s important in terms of you bring up the topic, right, you bring up the subject, and then you explore it from different vantage points, different angles, and you have a discussion about it, which is something that, unfortunately, we used to have amongst friends or most family where people had different points of views and we would discuss it.
And then once the discussion was done, we leave it there and we can go on and go and, you know, have fun with each other, whatever, you know, do other activities and know that there’s nothing personal. Unfortunately, now things have gotten personal to where if I have an idea, or I have a perspective, I have to have it with other like-minded people. I can’t have a discussion of that with someone who has a different idea.
Nyambi Nyambi (NN): And so, you never get to see a scenario in your own life where you are having that discussion with someone who may have a different point of view, whereas the show does that. It puts you in the room, and then it says, “All right, you’re all these different points of view, go at it.” And I think that’s why it’s important to face all these subject matters.
MB: I love it because as I’ve always said, even in the very first season, I remember sort of looking around and thinking to myself, “Wow, I am on a grown-up show.” We are talking about stuff and we’re talking about things that we’ve always talked about as a society but for some strange reason, probably because of the like the reasons that Nyambi was citing, suddenly, things became off limits. And suddenly you can’t talk about this, or you don’t talk about this. And it’s and I simply appreciated the fact that the writers of the show, the Kings, Robert and Michelle and the writers, they took for granted that the audience were adults, this is what’s really happening. Let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about racism, let’s talk about abortion, all of it. And so, I came away feeling even if I didn’t necessarily have anything to do with one particular storyline or another, that I am on a show that is pushing forward several conversations that we as Americans, and as humans at this point, need to be having.
That’s groundbreaking and I’m glad that you’re tackling those subjects. My next question to both of you is, what do you feel is the greatest challenge of your characters for the final season and Michael, I’m gonna start with you this time.
MB: My challenge season is discussing where to go when his conservative sort of patriots has failed him have wound him, you know, put him in jail, and then he was pardoned by Trump, all of which was very confusing, but also still being loyal to these people. There are actually scenes coming up, I won’t give away too much where Julian is involved with the opposite party. Opposite to him in trying to figure out how to fix the Democrats in a very, in a very sort of weird way.
And I and I just it’s one of those things where you know, that old phrase “politics makes strange bedfellows” that could have been the title of that episode, because you know, I’m advising Diane Lockhart like “Do you really think that’s a good idea? What about this, how about…” and she’s and we’re listening to each other, which is kind of to the Nyambi’s earlier point. That’s the way it used to be here. We in this country, we used to be able to have these conversations. Yes, sometimes you would argue but no one pulled out a gun. No one you know, no one, eggs your house or whatever, whatever it is these silly people are doing.
NN: When someone’s egging your house, they don’t like you.
MB: Well, there’s a lot of worse things I could have. Yeah. So, I just I’ve just always appreciated that. Oh, we’re at one point, I looked around and I’ve said this to Nyambi in the past, I think you were even in the scene where there were several scenes on this show, I look around me. We were in an office full of beautiful young black people as all the young associates.
I’m standing with Nyambi, Audra McDonald, whoever else was in and I looked around and went, “well, where’s the white gaze? There’s no, there’s no white gaze.” I realize that sounds but where is that? You know, there were no white people, no white characters called for in that moment. And the show continued, and it didn’t collapse. And it didn’t burst into flame. And we talked about the different class system in the black community. At some point, like, “Wow, are we really talking about this stuff?” So, I’m really proud to have been a part of that kind of thing.
NN: I think the greatest challenge for Jay is the fact that, we go on this, this continuous loop of here’s the problem that, you fight the problem solve the problem but then the problem comes back. So, it seems like you’re fighting the same issue. It’s like, Batman against the Joker. If he fights the Joker, he puts the Joker in jail. The Joker gets out, but we’re doing it all again. It’s like, “Well, why don’t you just get rid of the Joker?” That’s always been the issue, right?
And I think he comes up against that, this season, where it’s just finally like, “wait a minute, okay. We’re just going in circles in terms of all of these issues, I want to find a way to actually make a difference that’s lasting.” I think that’s the journey for Jay, in terms of what he wants, what he wants out of his life as we move up beyond the good fight.
The sixth and final season of The Good Fight, now streaming on Paramount+
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