Creator Abby Ajayi is conscious of the inevitable comparisons between her new Prime Video drama collection “Riches” and HBO’s “Succession.”
“There are so many shows about families, at the point when I started developing it, [but] I was more looking at real life [families] — the Hiltons, the Kardashians, the Guccis,” she informed The Post. “By the time we were given the green light, ‘Succession’ had already come on television.”
Premiering Dec. 2, “Riches” is about 5 siblings combating for management of their deceased Nigerian-British father’s empire within the Black magnificence trade. Self-made tycoon Stephen Richards (Hugh Quarshie) left his first spouse and two youngsters when his oldest daughter was 7.
Now adults, bold businesswoman Nina (Deborah Ayorinde) and homosexual stylist Simon (Emmanuel Imani) stay in America, and so they haven’t spoken to their estranged father in over 20 years. His second household is his scheming widow Claudia (Sarah Niles, “Ted Lasso”), flighty influencer Alesha (Adeyinka Akinrinade), celebration boy with an inferiority advanced Gus (Ola Orebiyi) and sensible Wanda (Nneka Okoye).
“I think it’s always flattering to compare it to something that’s hugely successful,” Ajayi mentioned. “But I feel like the themes in ‘Succession,’ ‘Yellowstone,’ ‘Empire,’ and [‘Riches’] are just perennial human themes that go back to Shakespeare.”
The two branches of Stephen’s household meet on the studying of his will following his demise, and it’s not all sunshine and roses — since everyone seems to be shocked to listen to that he left his whole firm to Nina and Simon.
“I love family drama stories, and family business stories,” mentioned Ajayi (“How to Get Away with Murder,” “Inventing Anna”), who can even be the showrunner on upcoming series “The Plot,” starring Mahershala Ali.
“I grew up watching shows like ‘Dynasty’ and ‘Dallas,’” she mentioned. “But even in actual life, whether or not you’re watching the Guccis or the Kardashians or the Hiltons, I used to be at all times intrigued by how the stakes are raised when blood and cash are blended. And the producers and I have been speaking about areas through which we may herald a black household enterprise. Cosmetics and hair have been the piece that actually introduced it collectively for me. Because I believed that was a manner right into a glamorous and visually enjoyable world, which might nonetheless permit me to inform tales, within the zeitgeist, which have substance to them. And having the ability to speak about black ambition was vital to me.
“Those were the various areas I was thinking about when I started developing the show.”
Similar to her characters, Ajayi has lived in each England and America, and he or she needed the present to mirror that, she mentioned.
“It speaks to something the show highlights, which is the black diaspora,” she mentioned. “My parents came from Nigeria to England in the ’60s, but one of my mom’s sisters went to America. So there’s a branch of my family that has American accents and were born in America, and I was born in London. For a lot of black Africans, you have roots that take you from West Africa to Europe to America. I think that’s also what distinguishes this from other family shows out there. It’s something we haven’t seen as much of on television, but it’s a very real experience.”
She mentioned that her earlier experiences in engaged on Shonda Rhimes exhibits helped with “Riches.”
“What I learned was the importance of pacing dynamic stories that keep audiences hooked in. And personally, working as a black Brit who came to America to further my ambition to work in television, [Rhimes] was such a beacon,” she mentioned. “The way she encourages female creatives to take up space in the room was hugely inspiring in how I can create my own show.”
