Mara Brock Akil’s Girlfriends is one of the most beloved sitcoms of the 2000s. Unlike any other show at the time, it centered soley on the lives of four Black women.
At an event hosted by Hollywood Confidential to celebrate the show’s 25th anniversary, Akil revealed how the cast was chosen starting with Golden Brooks who played Maya Wilkes.
“Golden came in for Toni [Childs],” Akil told the audience. “It was interesting because I knew talent was in the room. I knew. So I thought it was Toni.”
“Regina King was the prototype for Joan when I first wrote Joan.But Regina wasn’t returning any phone calls,” she jokeked
“Even Lil’ Kim had auditioned for the show. At the time, UPN just wanted attention. They needed eyeballs so they were throwing [out names], but when Golden walked in for Toni, I was like, ‘She’s talented, hold that.’”
Akil recalled that her husband Salim saw Tracee Ellis Ross at restuatuenat and suggested she read for the part. Although she was hesitant, she went along with it.
“We brought Tracee in and when Tracee came in and read for Joan, she blew me away,” Akil revealed. “And when Tracee was set, somehow I knew Golden had to be Maya, and then it all came together.”
With Ross and Brooks singed Persia White and Jill Marie Jones completed the cast. Thehe show was hit out of the gate airing for eight seasons.
When it comes to reboot, Akil is not against the idea if everything lines up.
“What I love is that we all are in agreement that we’ve got to be treated with the value that [the show] is. This show is serving four generations now across the world, and so it deserves its value. We don’t need to struggle through a celebration of a story, a film that could be done for Girlfriends,” she explains.
“I’m a believer … so if God wants us to do it, it will be done and it will be done in the right conditions and probably better than I’m even imagining because God always delivers better.”