We are now heading into the final buzzer of our Apple TV+’s Swagger Season 2 interviews. If you have been following along, we started off with a solo interview with creator, director and EP Reggie Rock Bythewood, then next we had the pair of Isaiah Hill and Quvenzhané Wallis. Now, we began to close up shop with a triple!

Joining me on the final set of interviews are Shinelle Azoroh (“Jenna Carson”), Tristan Mack Wilds (“Alonzo Powers”) and joining the cast this season – Orlando Jones.

Orlando, I’m gonna start with you. Since it’s been a month since we see each other, you play Dr. Emery Lawson in the new season. What does it feel like to be working with this amazing group of talented people?

Orlando Jones (OJ): Oh, awesome with all the sauce with some extra sauce, but a bit more awesome on it. That’s amazing, man. It’s an incredible cast. It’s a super fun show. I was a fan of the show. So you know, it’s always fun when you know when you can hit the creator up and be like, “I love your show”. And they like “come do it” and you like you playing for real? So that’s how I got here.

Why I’m so glad to hear it. Shinelle and Tristan, we have learned so much about your characters in the first season. What can we expect of them in this upcoming sophomore season that’s going to start in a few days?

Shinelle Azoroh “Jenn Carson” (SA): You get to see how well Jenn is doing with her products business. You get to see her navigate having two grown as kids in the house, went to college. And she’ll get to take on her own minding her own business. With a male suitor though, you’ll get to see that.

Tristan Mack Wilds “Alonzo Powers” (TMW): For Alonzo, I think you get a chance to really see him in a hint him in more of a position of power. He’s not necessarily he doesn’t have to. Or you don’t see him going back to the company and asking for help or whatever. They’re kind of giving him the carte blanche to make certain decisions because they trust in them, they trust in his abilities and his, no pun intended, his powers. So it’s you get a chance to kind of see him in his greatness. I guess you get a chance to see what happens. You know, with somebody who knows how to pull the strings behind the scenes.

SA:  I would like to say that we enjoy Orlando on the show, too. It wasn’t like he was somebody whose just new. He just showed up. I was a fan of his. And once he showed up, we just started talking like we knew each other. I love him.

Tell me about especially since I saw him just a month ago in Arlington, so I definitely know that people.

OJ: Emory is not a guy who would like me, I marry about his business. He is very focused on what he is trying to accomplish. I’m sure my shenanigans a little too much for him but fun to play and certainly a great mix into you know what O’Shea’s (Jackson, Jr.) character is going through and obviously what you know as character chases going through so a lot of fun.

Now we come to learn that “Swagger” is more than just an attitude. It’s a mission statement. If the three of you had to define swagger as a mission statement to your lives, what would it be? Janelle, I’m gonna start with you.

OJ: Oh, there you go with the hotseat?

SA: The hot seat… Swagger in my life is not to be afraid to be seen. I will say that. And I will connect that to Solomon’s story. I’m loving how his mom, she’s no longer incarcerated, and his team knows about his living situation. They know who he is. And there’s just something about when your friends see you and you get to fully standing who you are. That’s your swagger. So, to be seen, that’s huge for me.

TMW: I would kind of apply swagger in my life just as well. So, it means that you said it’s okay to be great. You know, I think that’s something that it’s something that I think in this season of my life I’m relearning, it’s okay to be great. It’s not gonna be a lot of people who like you. There’s gonna be there’s gonna be haters along the way. There’s going to be naysayers along the way but, it is more than okay. To work hard, to hustle hard towards something or aggressively entrepreneurial. Yeah, it’s good to hustle. It’s more than okay to be great. And to find your tribe afterwards. You know, just be great awesome!

Get ready for Swagger Season 2, starting tomorrow on Apple TV+

About The Author

Dean Rogers

Editor-in-Chief/Entertainment Reporter

I knew early on that I wanted to take my place among the stars. One day, my mother saw me reading The Washington Post at a very young age. Who would have known that it would be the building blocks of my journey? Since that day, I dedicated my life to learn all that is learnable. I read everything from encyclopedias, to books, to dictionaries, to magazines. I’m also an avid consumer of television, with my favorite genre being game shows. If you’ve seen me on Who Wants to be a Millionaire or Wheel of Fortune, then you know that this interest has served me well!

My unique style of reporting began back in junior high school, when I started to chronicle the events that shaped my life. Whether it was the annual family vacation or the local science fiction convention, I shot numerous pictures and recorded my thoughts so I could truly appreciate the history. During my senior year at Friendly High, I wrote what was to be my first masterpiece, “Advanced Space Academy – A One Week Journey.” I sent the eleven-page article back to the U.S. Space Camp staff. The article was highly praised for being “one of the best written articles in the history of U.S. Space Camp.” From then on, I knew what I wanted to do for rest of my life — to be a reporter.

Since then, I have trained in Broadcast Journalism at Bowie State University (2008) in Bowie, MD earning a B.S. in Communications. I gained experience in news production and editing through field experiences with Bowie Community Media Corporation, Prince George’s Community Television, and Bowie State University Television. I also wrote scripts for a variety of quiz shows for over five years.

As a lifelong movie buff, I now see close to 100 films every year. I took this love of movies to the next step when I became a co-host for Eclipse Magazine TV in the fall of 2005. While at EMTV, I interviewed celebrities, worked red carpets, and attended a wide variety of movie screenings. In January 2009, I took a leap of faith and started my own entertainment news magazine, The Rogers Revue. Shortly afterward, my life-long journey of studying the silver screen and writing about what I learned finally earned me a place in the Washington Area Film Critics Association.

All of this has led me here, giving you the latest entertainment news for the DMV and the entire nation, and I am truly excited for whatever will come next.

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