Exclusive: Nick Sagar and Andrea Bordeaux talk relationship drama from Starz's Run The World
Now playing on Starz is 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”).
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 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 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”).
Bordeaux’s Ella McFair is an audacious romantic, who is figuring out what she truly wants both personally and professionally. A gifted writer, Ella followed her passion and her talents to author her first book, while following her heart in a relationship with Anderson. When her book receives less than stellar reviews, and Anderson decides to take a job overseas, a heartbroken Ella retreats into herself. Now that she has come out of "hiding," and working in a job that does not satisfy her, Ella struggles to reclaim her joy while figuring out what she wants and where she is going.
Besides guest star roles on hit series “Criminal Minds,” “Bones,” “Dynasty,” Bordeaux had a season long arc as Special Agent Harley Hidoko on “NCIS: Los Angeles.”
A charismatic, non-profit attorney, Sagar’s Anderson Lewis broke Ella’s heart when he left the country for a summer job that turned into a two-year stay. Now, he’s back and Ella can’t resist his old seductive spell, even if she should.
Besides reprising his lead role in the sequel to Netflix’s The Christmas Princess Switch, opposite Vanessa Hudgens, Sagar previously starred in Season 3 of USA’s “Queen of the South,” recurred on Tyler Perry's OWN series “The Haves and The Have Nots” and had a notable recurring role in “Shadowhunters” on Freeform.
BlackFilmandTV.com’s Wilson Morales spoke with Sagar and Bordeaux regarding their characters on the show.
What led you to take on this series?
Andrea Bordeaux: This role is amazing. When I read the breakdown for the character and the breakdown for the show and got the sides and everything, it was just so exciting. I just immediately connected with Ella and I fell in love with all of the other characters and their dynamic. I thought that the pilot was so funny. I thought it was so smart. Very nuanced and subtle, but also in your face in a lot of ways and just very unapologetic and bold. I just love the way that Leigh and Yvette and the other writers have woven in all of these incredible issues and conversations that we're all having in the collective right now and doing it in such a humorous way and also in a very elevated way. The show is just so expensive looking and it's well produced and we look fantastic. It's just honestly a dream come true. I would have been crazy to have not wanted this.
Nick, your character seems like he can come and go in the relationship, say I'm sorry and get back in the saddle. Is there more to him than we see right now?
Nick Sagar: He’s definitely a duck on water. On the surface it may look like he's calm and has everything together but underneath he's really paddling and trying to stay afloat. There’s definitely a lot more to see and that will open up as the season goes along. One thing he knows is he's missing the love of his life. He's missing his woman. He made a mistake and we get to see him navigate if he can win her back.
From what I read, a lot of the cast met each other through zoom. What was it like when you finally met in person to get that chemistry going that we can see on screen?
Andrea Bordeaux: Well, I met the other three ladies before we shot the pilot so we we got to spend some time together for a few weeks before we started working on the show. I actually met Nick on the pilot as well. Most of us were were acquainted prior to it. I think Tosin and Jay were the only ones that we met via zoom. Steven was in the pilot also. I feel very lucky that we shot the pilot before everything started shutting down last year because we really did get some great opportunities to connect in person. After our first day working together on the pilot Nick, Bresha and myself went out for dinner that night, and we sat and talked for like five hours. We really got to connect before shooting the show, so we were acquainted before zoom.
What does Ellen want in life? Obviously, she wants love like everybody else does. But career wise, is she at a point right now where she thinks she can get it? Or does she still have to work hard for it?
Andrea Bordeaux: I think Ella definitely has to work hard for it. We're meeting her in episode one at a point in her life where she's realizing that what she wanted not only didn't work out, but it isn't actually what she wanted, because it was being clouded by so many other things that really weren't authentic to her. And so now she's beginning the process of really rebuilding and discovering not only Who am I but how am I working through this? How am I going to get to a place where I even really fully understand and feel like I deserve what I want because I feel like with her relationship with Anderson, Nick has spoken so beautifully about it. They have such a deep connection and such deep love and I think at the core Ella wants to be with Anderson more than anything. But after having her heartbroken and also feeling like the rest of her life collapse underneath her, she's not even sure if the relationship is something that is even possible for her because I don't think it's a matter of not wanting it. I think it's more a matter of not trusting that it's possible. That's where a lot of people are in their lives as they have these big dreams and these big goals and big aspirations for themselves, but they don't fully trust in their their ability to create it. That's what we get to witness with with Ella's experience on the show this season, finding ways to create what it is that that she wants.