Lela Rochon on the Final Season of ‘The Chi,’ the Beauty of Nostalgia and Pushing for More Women

SPOILER ALERT: The following story contains plot details from Season 8 of “The Chi,” now streaming on Paramount+ In the eighth and final season of Lena Waithe’s long-running drama, “The Chi,” legendary actress Lela Rochon steps onto the scene. The “Waiting to Exhale” alum first appears in Episode 6, “When Truth Thaws,” as Vivian, a luxury wedding planner who is hired to orchestrate Emmett (Jacob Latimore) and Keisha’s (Birgundi Baker) forthcoming nuptials. Though Vivian is eager to plan a lavish event, she quickly realizes that the couple’s ideas for their big day couldn’t be further apart. Moreover, Emmett’s ex-wife Tiffany’s (Hannaha Hall) emotional and financial involvement complicates matters. An avid viewer of “The Chi” since it first debuted back in 2018, Rochon was thrilled to step into this bustling Chicago ecosystem and put her own touch on a character who will play a pivotal role as this fan-favorite story comes to an end. As the series comes to a close, Rochon talks to Variety about working on “The Chi,” some of her favorite movie memories, and why she’s continually pushing for underrepresented and unseen stories. Popular on Variety These days, it’s so rare for a series to continue for as long as “The Chi” has. What was it like to step on the set of the final season? It just felt easy. It felt comfortable. I had been such a fan of the show and had told Lena [Waithe] I had seen every episode, which I could not believe. I started watching [“The Chi”] with my kids when they were in middle school. The fact that it’s been on for eight seasons is wonderful and bittersweet. So, finally doing the show was just a treat for me. It was just something I didn’t even really think about. What intrigued you most about portraying Vivian? Obviously, the dynamic between Emmett, Keisha, and Tiffany looks like it’s going to get messy very quickly. It was really fun for me. In the 1990s I had an idea for a movie about a wedding planner, and then the next thing I knew, Jennifer Lopez did one. So I was a hair too late. So it was really exciting not knowing what Lena had in mind for me because she had told me, “Oh, I’m writing you into the show.” I had my hopes up for some big, juicy gangster lady, and [Vivian] wasn’t that. I was a little shocked, like, “Oh, a wedding planner.” They were like, “Yeah, we want you really playing, really simple.” I was like, “Mm-mm.” My wedding planner was not that. She was fabulous, and she still is fabulous. We are still friends to this day. She is unique and special. So it was fun for me because I had an idea of who I thought [Vivian] would be. Emmett and Tiffany are lying to Keisha about what really happened to Nuck (Cortez Smith), which will cause major turmoil when she finds out. Do you think this wedding is actually going to happen? I can’t say. What was it like to work with these young actors who have been with the show since the very beginning? You know what? It was interesting because I think they might’ve been a little more shy about talking to me than I was about talking to them. So, for me, seeing them as young, fresh faces on this show made me curious about everybody. Who are you? Where are you from? How did you end up in Chicago? Are you from Chicago? Are you going to stay here after this show? I had many questions because it’s always interesting to see how things are done now compared to when I was that age. It’s very, very different. The fact that none of them have to live in Los Angeles anymore, that everything is by tape, Zoom and these other things. So I almost felt sad for them that they weren’t coming to Hollywood; they didn’t want to. Hollywood’s too expensive. All those things made me a little sad because if you can thrive here and do well here, it’s a beautiful thing. But if you can live in peace somewhere else and you’re happy and that’s your thing, it’s wonderful. It’s a hybrid of being an actor these days. It’s just something new to me. How did you feel about filming in Chicago? It’s very different from L.A. or even Atlanta. Filming in Chicago was a first for me. I’d only flown into Chicago to do “The Oprah Winfrey Show” or local press. When we pulled in, I’m like, “Oh, it’s a whole studio here.” It’s a whole thing happening in Chicago, and that intrigued me about the show, since I wasn’t that familiar with the city. So to be on “The Chi” and see the life in the Chi, I just really wanted to breathe it and live it. As an icon in this industry, you’ve worked with a plethora of incredible directors from Eddie Murphy to Oliver Stone and, more recently, with Issa Rae and now Lena Waithe. What is it like working now with these young Black women, in particular, who specifically write roles for you? I’m flattered by that. To be perfectly honest with you, I have a passion and desire to direct myself. I was heartbroken that Lena’s director’s program happened and I didn’t know about it, because I would’ve loved to do an episode. It’s itching and crawling inside me because there’s just too much knowledge there. A lot of times when directors are talking, and actors are struggling, I’m thinking all kinds of things in my head. I’m a bit old-school: you have to know your place and let the director direct. Even though you want to say, “No, we need to go here to get there, but okay, I’ll wait till you get to it.” I had two young female directors, and it was interesting to see their different processes. In addition to your directing aspirations, you’ve also been putting on your executive producer hat recently with Lifetime’s true crime movie, “The Dating App Killer: The Monica White Story,” which you also starred in. What inspired you to do more than act on this specific project? You know what? I have to do more than act. Just wanting more power and more creative say. I think that’s one thing that made me take a time-out from the industry to raise my children, because you can only do one thing creatively for so long. I remember I’d had my daughter, and I went into a movie, and I was in the trailer, picking swatches and chairs, decorating my house and doing a million other things because I was bored, and every role’s not going to be juicy and chompy and exciting. What they will give Nicole Kidman, they won’t always offer to me. So I have to stay creative. Now when someone offers me a role I’ll say, “OK, I’ll do it, but I would also like to be an executive producer.” I would love to do more stories and develop more stories for women, particularly women of color, because there’s such a shortage of those stories, but they’re also the hardest to sell. But that’s really where my passion lies right now. When you are offered roles now, how do you decide which ones you want to take on? I’ve always had integrity and been picky. Even when I was broke, I was picky because I had a family and people I felt I represented, and I never wanted to embarrass myself or do anything degrading or that I didn’t feel good about. I have to feel good in the role, and I do have a good sense of humor. So some things are funny to me, and I can be the brunt of a joke, and it’s OK, but it has to excite me, have integrity and be challenging. Nostalgia is also really big in Hollywood right now. We see it with Netflix’s upcoming “A Different World” reboot and so many other sequels and prequels. How do you feel about the industry revitalizing stories that already have massive built-in audiences? I’m very happy that people are nostalgic because social media is keeping many careers alive. In the past, when people weren’t working, you never saw them again. Now when people aren’t working, you still see them, you still miss them. There’s a lot of throwbacks and flashbacks, and there’s a craving for them. That’s a beautiful thing, particularly for actors that have been around a long time because you only get better with time. Your talent doesn’t get worse. It doesn’t go anywhere. So there’s that. But then there’s also this very Trumpy administration, and there have been a lot of people of color taken off TV, a lot of shows taken off TV, and it makes you sad because we had come so far and done so much. Having been in this industry for four decades on a plethora of projects, what is one of your favorite memories? I have so many great memories. I did a movie, “The Chamber,” based on a John Grisham novel, with Gene Hackman, who passed away last year. I recently saw this picture of us just laughing hysterically, and I thought, “Wow, that’s really iconic.” That’s a moment. Working with Al Pacino [in “Any Given Sunday”], that’s a moment. Jamie Foxx, myself, Al Pacino and Oliver Stone in a rehearsal room together in a house all day practicing and running lines — that’s a moment. As the industry continues to shift and change while we’re dealing with this administration that’s not trying to see Black people or people of color in general in any type of representational roles, what are you hoping to see? I’m hoping to see more sophisticated people of color on television. “White Lotus,” hello. We go on vacation too. Where they’re shooting in the South of France this season, I’ve been there, I’ve stayed there. We’re here too. Write us in, write us into the show. All these wonderful Apple TV shows like Jon Hamm’s “Your Friends & Neighbors,” we need a Black family. There are so many things that I’m not seeing. What I’m not seeing is the sophistication of where we are in America and where people of color are. We’re not thought about. We’re often forgotten, and it’s hard not to be forgotten. Aside from directing, is there anything else you have on your plate that you’re really excited about or a story that you’re hoping to get off the ground? I’ve been trying to get my story “Passing Love” off the ground for a while. It’s about a woman who travels to Paris to find her birth mother. I’m hoping to get that done, as well as a comedy I wrote with a writing partner called “Manhunt,” about three sophisticated women living in New York City. They’re all over the place, but they’re on a hunt for love, and there’s a lot of humor and comedy in that. I’m constantly trying to get things made for women. It’s just where my passion lies. Getting executives to want to do a story where the women are leads, that’s the hardest thing. One: for the women to be leads; two: for the women of color to be leads. But there’s a lane for it, and there’s a huge audience for it. We are the biggest moviegoing, book-buying, merch audience there is, and people are sleeping on it. This interview has been edited and condensed.