Characters / Queen Sugar

A list of the characters from Queen Sugar and their associated tropes.

The Bordelon Siblings

Nova Bordelon

Nova Bordelon

Played by: Rutina Wesley

Nova, the eldest of the siblings, is a dedicated journalist and activist who has to balance helping her family with helping her community.

• Betty and Veronica: Nova's Betty is a vivacious black woman named Chantal who shares many of her ideals. Her Veronica is Calvin, her white cop boyfriend who opposes some of her activist work.
• Big Sister Instinct: While a guest on a radio show, Nova defends Charley when the hosts start gossiping about the scandal surrounding her husband.
• Black Gal on White Guy Drama: Nova's boyfriend, Calvin, is not only white, but a white police officer working for the department she antagonized. To make matters worse, he's married with kids.
• Canon Foreigner: Nova didn't exist in the novel.
• Character Development: Nova learns to balance her commitment to activism with her relationships to her family and friends.
• Cool Aunt: To both her nephews, but she's especially close to Micah. She even invites him to live with her during the week since his new school in Louisiana is much closer to her home than Vi's, where he and his mother live following her separation from his father. Charley forbids it because she doesn't like Nova's neighborhood. Over time, Micah begins emulating Nova more and more.
• Dreadlock Rasta: Nova wears her hair in long dreadlocks and is a down-to-earth spiritualist and herbal healer. This contrasts her with Charley, who straightens her hair and lived a glamorous, fast-paced lifestyle in L.A.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Nova cuts her locks at the beginning of Season 5, leaving her hair short and curly. This is explicitly to signify a new chapter in her life as prepares to launch her new website, True Papers.
• Fatal Flaw: Her tendency to jump headfirst into big decisions without consulting anyone else.
• Forced Out of the Closet: Nova's (former) friend Billie told Nova's father she was queer without her consent.
• Intrepid Reporter: Nova is tired of writing shallow reports at her boss's behest and instead launches her own investigation into the racism, inefficiency, and corruption in the NOPD.
• Lack of Empathy: Played with. She's a crusader for social justice and dedicates herself to the oppressed and less fortunate, but has trouble acknowledging how her actions hurt the people closest to her. When her family members (and Darla) try to explain that her tell-all book will ruin their lives, she doesn't take their concerns seriously and tries to argue that the book will help millions of people, so it was okay for her publish it.
• Mama Bear: Nova's crusade against the NOPD revolves mainly around the case of a teenager called Too Sweet whom Nova is desperately trying to get released from prison so he can start his life over.
• The Mistress: To Calvin, a married cop.
• Parental Substitute: She's a mother figure to Too Sweet. His parents are not seen or mentioned in season 1, but in season 3 it's revealed that Nova is on good terms with his mother, Mary Anne.
• Really Gets Around: In season 2, she's shown having a string of unemotional one-night stands following the end of her relationship with Calvin.
• Secret Relationship: Nova and Calvin, due to the fact that he's married to another woman. Becomes less secret after he leaves her for Nova.
• Soapbox Sadie: Nova is vocal activist who trying to change the systematic racism in the local police department. This puts her at odds with her police officer boyfriend, Calvin.
  • This get heavily deconstructed in season 4. Nova publishes a book about all her family's struggles with the intent of using their stories to help others. Everyone in the book is horrified by what she wrote about them and boy do they let her know. Aunt Vi outright disowns her.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to her sister's Girly Girl.

Charley Bordelon West

Charlotte "Charley" Bordelon West

Played by: Dawn-Lyen Gardner

A wealthy and successful sports manager, middle child Charley finds her life turned upside down after her father dies and her husband becomes embroiled in a sex scandal.

• Broken Pedestal: Toward Davis after his sexual assault of an escort is uncovered.
• Character Development: Charley learns what really matter to her and dedicates herself to fighting for positive change for Black people around the nation.
• Control Freak: Charley tends to micromanage the farm, which her siblings, especially Ralph Angel, find annoying.
• Determinator: Once she commits to making the farm a success, Charley goes to great lengths to reach that goal.
• Education Mama: She wants the best education possible for Micah, which is why she put him in private school and was reluctant to let him attend public school. She's horrified when he rescinds his Harvard acceptance letter to go to Xavier University of Louisiana. She's also upset when he decides to drop out of college to pursue a career in photography. .
• Expository Hairstyle Change: As she grows closer to her siblings, starts feeling more connected to St. Jo's, and prioritizes the farm over her flashy, high profile career, Charley stops straightening her hair and wears it in it's natural state.
• Good Parents: To her son Micah. She's extremely loving, protective, and understanding toward him.
• Guile Hero: She uses her wits and charm to circumvent the Landys' attempts to steal their land.
• Happily Married: Charley and her husband Davis are a wealthy, famous, and successful couple with a wonderful teenage son who adores them. However things between them become strained when Davis's sex scandal break out and Charley eventually files for divorce after learning about the plight of his mistress.
• It's All My Fault: Charley blames herself for the deaths of two migrant workers in her employ. The workers had all wanted to go home, but she told them to work later than planned. The following morning, she found two of them lying dead in the fields and couldn't even identify them.
• Mama Bear: Charley does everything in her power to keep the scandal from touching her son Micah. She also doesn't appreciate Nova interfering in his life without her permission.
  • She flips out when Micah tells her that the cop who arrested him threatened to kill him.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Charley didn't make it to the hospital until just after her father passed away.
• Performance Anxiety: She used to play the piano when she was younger, but no matter how much she practiced, she couldn't perform well in front of a crowd.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She gets elected to the parish council in Season 4 and uses her newfound political influence to protect her constituents from corporations that want to take advantage of them. When she first hears about COVID-19, she takes the initiative to put St. Jo's on lockdown before the state government even requires a lockdown.
• Rich Bitch: To an extent. She rarely goes out of her way to be malicious, but she looks down on sex workers and the poor, can be highly self-centered, and is willing to threaten her best friend to get a deal that'll save the farm.
• Slut-Shaming: Guilt of this. She's disdainful of sex workers and "low class" women who attach themselves to rich men. Once she learns of Melina's rape, however, she has a Heel Realization and becomes protective of women who've experienced sexual violence.
• Soapbox Sadie: Gradually becomes this, as she starts to take a stand against large corporations that try to explain the local farmers.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to her sister's Tomboy.
• Wicked Stepmother: Defied. She's nice to Davis's love child Tia because she understands that Tia isn't responsible for anything that happened between her and Davis. That said, Charley makes it clear she wants no part in raising Tia.
• Written-In Absence: She only appears in a few scenes in season 7, with the explanation that she's busy on her campaign for Congress.

Ralph Angel Bordelon

Ralph Angel Bordelon

Played by: Kofi Siriboe

Ralph Angel, the youngest, is a young single father trying to make his in way in the world after being released from prison.

• Book Dumb: Ralph Angel had a tough time in school because he wasn't academically gifted and felt that he was letting his father down.
• Character Development: Ralph Angel goes from a troubled ex-convict with no direction in life to a hardworking family man and a pillar of his community.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Ralph Angel pulls a gun on a man for trying to reposes his father truck. It's not the repossession itself that angers him, but the feeling that his life is changing too much and there's nothing he can do to stop it.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Deconstructed. Ralph Angel is fully aware that he's the Foolish Sibling to Nova and Charley and finds it chafing. He considers his sisters' attempts to help him patronizing and doesn't think they have much faith in him.
• Good Parents: He's a loving and devoted father who's doing his best for his son, his legal and financial situation notwithstanding. Even after learning Blue isn't his biological child, Ralph Angel still considers himself Blue's real father and doesn't treat him differently.
• Like Father, Like Son: He takes after his father in several respects, for better or worse. Like Ernest, Ralph Angel is dedicated to the farm and his family, but he also resists asking for or accepting help due a belief that a man should be able to handle everything on his own.
• The Mentor: Ralph Angel starts a prison-reentry for ex-cons, inspired by his own difficulties with rejoining society after his incarceration. He gives them work on the farm and helps steer them away from returning to a life of crime.
• Papa Wolf:
  • He's hostile toward Darla in the beginning of season one due to her neglect of Blue and is reluctant to let her have a second chance at motherhood.
  • When one of the Landrys implicitly threatens Blue, Ralph Angel nearly throttles him.
• Pride: He wants to prove that he can support himself and his son without anyone's help and sometimes turns to illegal activity to maintain the facade. He hates showing his vulnerabilities and weaknesses, and gets defensive when others call him out on this or try to help him.
• Reformed Criminal: Deconstructed. Ralph Angel is not keen on returning to a life of crime, but circumstances and his own pride make it hard for him to stay out of trouble. For instance, he's roped into stealing from his job by his co-worker because the boss withheld his pay. He couldn't just get another job because not many places are willing to hire an ex-con. When he tries to back out, the co-worker threatens him because He Knows Too Much.

Extended Family

Violet Bordelon

Violet "Vi" Bordelon

Played by: Tina Lifford

The siblings' aunt and a waitress at a local restaurant.

• All Girls Want Bad Boys: When she was seventeen, she fell in love a handsome ne'er-do-well named Jimmy, whom Ernest greatly disliked. Violet and Ernest become estranged when she married Jimmy, but they reconciled after Violet divorced him.
• Cool Aunt: Vi is the voice of reason for the Bordelon clan and a maternal figure to the siblings.
• Domestic Abuse: Her ex-husband Jimmy physically abused and raped her. After learning that Jimmy has a new girlfriend that he's also been abusing, Vi immediately steps in to convince her to leave him.
• Mama Bear: Vi doesn't want Darla anywhere near Ralph Angel or Blue after the state she left them in due to her drug addiction.
• Ominous Hair Loss: Violet's hairdresser becomes concerned when she notices that Violet's hair is falling out and recommends that she go to a doctor. When she does, Violet gets diagnosed with lupus.
• Parental Substitute: Vi helps guide her nieces and nephew after her brother's death. She was also Blue's legal guardian for a while during Ralph Angel's incarceration. Subjected to a bit of deconstruction when she tries to override Ralph Angel and Darla's parenting decisions regarding Blue, leading to tension within the family.
• Rank Up: Over the course of season one, she goes from being another waitress to the manager, since she knows the restaurant and the regulars better than anyone. Taken a step further at the end of season 3, when Hollywood buys the restaurant for her.
• Supreme Chef: She's well-known for being an amazing cook and even gets a contract to bake pies for a local supermarket chain. Eventually she opens her own diner.
• Trauma Button: The sudden reappearance of her abusive ex-husband Jimmy causes her to faint from shock. Afterwards she's anxious and despondent even though she knows he left town. After talking about it with her doctor, she's diagnosed with PTSD.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She admonishes Ralph Angel after finding out that he's turned back to crimes and then again after he gets back together with Darla.

Hollywood Desonier

Hollingsworth "Hollywood" Desonier

Played by: Omar J. Dorsey

Violet's much younger boyfriend, an oil rig worker.

• Book Dumb: Deconstructed. When he began to struggle academically in high school, he was too ashamed to ask for help and none of the adults in his life noticed that he had stopped going to class. This motivates him to run for a position on the school board, to make sure more kids don't fall through the cracks like he did.
• Honorary Uncle: The Bordelon siblings consider him to be part of the family, even during his temporary break-up with Vi. He legally becomes their uncle after marrying Vi.
• Likes Older Women: Hollywood is much younger than Vi, but he's completely devoted to her.
• Mr Fix It: He's pretty handy with a hammer and does repairs to Vi's house when needed.
• Parental Substitute: In season 6, he acts as a father figure to Gabriel, the son of a woman that Violet has been helping escape an abusive marriage.
• Uncle Pennybags: He receives a large paycheck in compensation from the company he worked for after the rig he worked on explodes.

Micah West

Micah West

Played by: Nicholas L. Ashe

Charley's fifteen year old son, an easygoing kid struggling to deal with the change going on around him.

• Big Brother Mentor: He plays this role to his little cousin Blue by helping him understand and cope with stressful life events, such as Blue's parents breaking up.
• Bi-Wildered: In season 6 he expresses confusion over his sexuality upon realizing that he has feelings for his male friend, Isaiah.
• Break the Cutie: While driving the brand new car his father got him for his sixteenth birthday, Micah gets pulled over by a white cop. When he can't produce his license and registration, the cop pulls a gun on him, arrests him, and tosses him in a holding cell. His dad manages to get him out before long, but Micah is left terribly shaken by the experience.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • He's horrified to learn that his father may have raped someone. Happens again when Davis confesses he's been hiding an illegitimate child for years.
  • To Nova, after learning that she got back together with Calvin, a white cop.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: In season 4 he returns from a vacation in Paris, having replaced his usual hi-top fade for dreadlocks with an undercut, similar to Nova's look. Charley is put off by this and eventually admits she doesn't like how he's been presenting himself lately.
• Gender Flip: Micah was a daughter in the novel.
• Momma's Boy: He's closer to her than to his father, though he does still care about his dad.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: His grandfather passed away before he and his mother could make it to see him.
• Parent with New Paramour: He's initially ambivalent about Charley's relationship with Remy, but comes to accept it. Later he helps Blue deal with this after Ralph Angel and Darla break up.
• Soapbox Sadie: Likely due to Nova's influence. When he sees a display honoring a Confederate general at his school, he petitions to have it removed, but no one else is really interested. When he hangs posters everywhere condemning the display, the school finally takes action, but he gets suspended for violating the code of conduct. Taken further after he's assaulted and wrongfully arrested by a white cop. He starts speakings at public rallies, befriends a groups of activists at his new school, and spends his summer vacation in Paris attending conferences and seminar about racial injustice.

Davis West

Davis West

Played by: Timon Kyle Durrett

A star basketball player and Charley's husband, at the center in a scandal that threatens to destroy his family.

• The Charmer: As part of being a celebrity, he can be pretty charismatic when he wants to be. Even after everything he put Charley through, he still gets close to sweet-talking her more than once.
• Disappeared Dad: His father wasn't involved in his life, which is why he was close to Ernest and wants to do right by Micah and later Tia.
• Domestic Abuse: To his mistress, Melina. He forced her to preform degrading sex acts, verbal abused her, and let his teammates rape her.
• Everything Is Racist: He claims to Nova that he's being presumed guilty because he's black, hoping she'd take his side since she wrote an article on racism in the police force. However, Nova counters by reminding him that despite his race, he's much wealthier and more privileged than the black men and women in her article.
• Good Parents: His one redeeming quality is his commitment to being a good dad to Micah. Having grown up with an absent father, he wants better for his son. He also tries to be this for his daughter Tia after her mother dies.
• Happily Married: To Charley, at least until Davis's sex scandal break out. She eventually files for divorce after learning about the plight of his mistress.
• It's All About Me: While he does feel bad about what he put Charley and Micah through, ultimately Davis is primarily concerned with his own desires and protecting his reputation.
• Spared By Adaptation: Charley was a widow in the book.
• Took a Level in Kindness: By season 5, Davis becomes a lot more humble and takes responsibly for his actions.

Blue Bordelon

Blue Bordelon

Played by: Ethan Hutchison

Ralph Angel's young son.

• Cheerful Child: He's an upbeat six year old who only wants to be happy with his family.
• Child Prodigy: It's noted that he's very smart for his age and does extremely well in school. When Darla has to homeschool him in season 5, she struggles to keep him occupied because of how quickly his finishes his schoolwork. Eventually, she and Ralph Angel send him to private school in Washington D.C. so he can reach his full potential.
• Dead Guy Junior: Downplayed. Ralph Angel chose the name "Blue" because it rhymed with his late mother's name, True, and referenced a color, like his aunt Violet's name.
• Happily Adopted: He eventually comes to terms with Ralph Angel not being his biological father.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: Blue plays with a doll named Kenya that he takes everywhere. One of his classmates bullies him over it.
• Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: In season 2, Darla confessions that she cheated on Ralph Angel shortly before learning she was pregnant, so Blue might not be a Bordelon by blood. Despite being heartbroken to learn this, Ralph Angel still considers Blue his son and doesn't love him any less.
• Out of Focus: He only appears in the last 2 episodes of season 6 because he went to a new school in Washington D.C. at the end of season 5.
• Token Minority: In-Universe. He gets accepted into a prestigious, majority-white private school partly because the school wants to improve it's image by admitting more Black students.

Ernest Bordelon

Ernest Bordelon

Played by: Glynn Turman

The late patriarch of the Bordelon family.

• Big Brother Instinct: He hated Violet's first husband, Jimmy Dale, for being physically abusive toward her. Hollywood alludes to an incident when Ernest beat Jimmy up in Violet's defense.
• Driven to Suicide: He almost took his own life after True's death, having avoided asking for help from fear of seeming weak, but Prosper stopped him and helped Ernest get himself back together.
• Good Parents: By all accounts he was a dedicated father. He was also a wonderful grandfather to Blue.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Remy Newell, who's young enough to be his son.
• I Want Grandkids: He repeatedly asked Nova to get settle down, get married, and have children, but eventually accepted her desire not to. Or maybe not. Nova suspects he didn't leave the farm to her as punishment for her refusal to have a family.
• Papa Wolf: In her book, Nova tells a story that when she was a kid, her father protected her from three white men who were sexually harassing her during a fishing trip. From then on, Ernest was very concerned about Nova's safety and never let her out of his sight. It's heavily implied that he murdered those men, but later confirmed he didn't.
• Parental Favoritism: When they learn that Ernest left the whole farm to Ralph Angel, Nova and Charley come to believe he was their father's favorite.
• Parental Substitute: To Davis, who never knew his father growing up, and Remy.
• The Patriarch: Ernest Bordelon was the glue that held the whole family together. His death leaves a huge hole in his children's and sister's lives.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Prosper reveals to Nova that Ernest had once been in a war, and was haunted by the fact that he had been trained to kill.

True Bordelon

Trudy "True" Bordelon

Nova and Ralph Angel's late mother.

• Deceased Parents Are the Best: Everyone speaks highly of her, especially her kids.
• Due to the Dead: At her own request, Ernest buried her in an unmarked grave on the farm and told the family he had her cremated. Nova and Ralph Angel later find her grave and put up a small memorial.
• Missing Mom: She died when Ralph Angel was eleven.
• Like Father, Like Son: Appears to have been a lot like Nova. They're both herbal healers and spiritualists.

Lorna Prescott

Lorna Prescott

Played by: Sharon Lawrence

Charley's mother.

• Parents as People: Though she didn't fully understand everything Charley went through as a black woman, since Lorna herself is white, she tried her absolute best to be a good mother to Charley.
• Wicked Stepmother: Averted. She tries her best to civil to Nova and wants her to know how much she admired her mother, True.

Residents of Louisiana

Remy Newell

Remy Newell

Played by: Dondre Whitfield

A friend of the late Ernest Bordelon who helps his children manage the family sugarcane farm.

• Back for the Finale: He returns to St. Jo's for the final episode of the series to help the Bordelons one more time.
• Going Native: He reveals to Nova that he is originally from Detroit, but considers St. Josephine's his real home because that's where he found purpose in his life.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Ernest Bordelon, who was old enough to be his father. Charley is initially surprised when she meets Remy because she expected him to be much older.
• The Lost Lenore: His late wife died serving in Afghanistan.
• Love Interest: He gradually falls in love with Charley, but doesn't try to pursue a relationship with her because she's already married. They eventually get together after she leaves her husband.
• The Mentor: Remy, one of Ernest's old friends, helps the Bordelon siblings learn to run a farm. Interestingly, he's around the same age as them due to his and Ernest's Intergenerational Friendship.
• Nice Guy: He's quite friendly and patient, especially toward Charley.
• Put on the Bus: He leaves sometime between season 3 and 4. He briefly returns halfway through season 4 but leaves against at the end of the episode.
• Race Lift: He was white in the book, but is black in the show.

Calvin Gaston

Calvin

Played by: Greg Vaughan

A NOPD officer who's in a secret relationship with Nova.

• Black Gal on White Guy Drama: And in addition to the race issue, he's a police officer working for the department his girlfriend antagonized.
• Bystander Syndrome: When asked, he confesses that he stood by and did nothing when other officers brutalized black people. Subverted when it's revealed that he actually participated in the brutality, but hid it from Nova.
• Police Brutality: In season 5 it's revealed that he broke a black kid's back while working as a cop, leaving him paralyzed for life. At the end of that season, Calvin turns himself in to Internal Affairs to finally take responsibility for his actions.
• Secret Relationship: Due to the fact that he's married to another woman. Becomes less secret after he leaves her for Nova. In season 4, he finally meets Nova's family and they move in together.

Darla Sutton

Darla Sutton

Played by: Bianca Lawson

Ralph Angel's ex-girlfriend and the mother of his son Blue, Darla is a former drug addict trying to get her life back together.

• The Atoner: For choosing drugs over her son. She's clean now and wants a second chance to be a good mother.
• Character Development: Darla takes great strides to pull herself out of a terrible situation with help from her family and community. She starts out newly sober, with no support system, and struggling just spend time with her son. By the end of the series she's a confident businesswoman, happily married wife, and responsible mother.
• Missing Mom: Darla lost custody of Blue because of her drug abuse, though she's making effort to stay clean and be part of his life.
• Like Father, Like Son: Her mother is a former alcoholic, meaning substance abuse runs in the family.
• The Oldest Profession: In the past, Darla used prostitution to get money for drugs. The Bordelons finally took Blue away from her after Hollywood and Violet found her high with a client while Blue was in the corner, dirty and dehydrated. She's since quit and gotten conventional jobs, but it took a while for a Bordelons to trust her again. Once, while she and Ralph Angel were out, a former client hit on her, causing Ralph Angel to get jealous.
• Parental Neglect: Darla had custody of Blue for a time while Ralph Angel was imprisoned and she was too busy getting high to properly take care of him. She deeply regrets it and is trying to be a better mother.
• Recovered Addict: She had a major drug problem in the past that cost her custody of her son but has so far managed to stay clean.
• Riches to Rags: She comes from an affluent family and attended a prestigious school, but her parents had to cut her off because of her drug addiction. After she gets clean they're willing to financially support her again.
• Spared By Adaptation: In the book, she had died of a drug overdose.
• Token Minority: In-Universe. She was one of the few Black students in her school and the isolation she felt took an emotional toll on her.

Reyna Velez

Reyna Velez

Played by: Marycarmen Lopez

Blue's teacher, who develops an infatuation toward Ralph Angel.

• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: She is never seen or mentioned after season 1.
• Nice Girl: Reyna is incredibly sweet and often helps out the Bordelon family in whatever way she can.
• Shrinking Violet: She's too shy to let Ralph Angel know that he has a crush on him, especially once she sees that he's back together with his son's mother, Darla.

Too Sweet

Devonte "Too Sweet" Bonclair

Played by: Isaac White

A young man being held in an adult prison whom Nova strives to free.

• Miscarriage of Justice: He's being held in an adult prison despite being a minor because he can't afford bail and his case is stuck in limbo because the system is overcrowded. Nova takes money from the farm to pay his bail, getting her in trouble with Charley, and Calvin pulls some strings to get his case dropped.
• Nice Guy: Hence his nickname, Too Sweet.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: He's only ever called "Too Sweet".
• Put on the Bus: He leaves St. Josephine's after being released from prison so he can start his life over. In season 3 Nova runs into his mother, Mary Anne, who tells her that he's doing well in school and has a job.

Prosper Denton

Prosper Denton

Played by: Henry G. Sanders

The manager of the Bordelon farm, as well as an old friend of the family.

• Happily Adopted: To reassure Ralph Angel after finding out he wasn't Blue's biological father, Prosper tells him that in high school he found out that his dad wasn't his biological father, but he didn't care.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Prosper stayed silent about the incident between Jimmy and Billie, something he deeply regrets after learning that Jimmy had tried to rape Billie.
• Old Retainer: To the Bordelons. He's been helping take care of their land for decades.
• Parental Substitute: He's something of a surrogate father to the Bordelons and becomes especially close to Charley in season 3.
• Talking Down the Suicidal: He stopped Ernest from killing himself after True's death.
• What the Hell, Hero?: The Bordelon siblings' in-fighting wears away at his patience, though they do eventually convince him that they're serious about running a farm.

Chantal Williams

Chantal Williams

Played by: Reagan Gomez-Preston

A beautiful activist that Nova falls in love with.

• Brutal Honesty: She has a penchant for bluntly speaking her mind, even if it's not what Nova wants to hear.
• Satellite Love Interest: For Nova in the first season.
• Soapbox Sadie: Just like Nova, which is what initially brings them together.

Keke Raymond

Keke

Played by: Tanyell Waivers

One of Micah's classmates, who's father is a family friend.

• Satellite Love Interest: Becomes Micah's girlfriend. Deconstructed in season 7. Keke admits that she broke up with Micah because outside of St. Jo's, she just known as "Micah West's girlfriend" and hated how much judgement she got for it.
• Nice Girl: She's very welcoming to Micah when he moves to St. Jo's.

Romero Rodriguez

Romero Rodriguez

Played by: Walter Perez

A physician's assistant who falls for Charley.

• Hospital Hottie: He's a physician's assistant. In season 4, he and Charley open a no-questions-asked clinic for undocumented migrants.
• Nice Guy: Romero is very sweet and always eager to help others.
• Satellite Love Interest: He becomes Charley's new romantic interest after her break-up with Remy.

Jimmy Dale

Jimmy Dale

Played by: David Alan Grier

Violet's abusive ex-husband.

• Affably Evil: He comes off as extremely charismatic, friendly, and polite. It's not hard to see why Vi initially fell for him.
• Asshole Victim: Jimmy ends up in hospice in season 7. Before his death, Violet and Billie both confront him over the pain he inflicted on them.
• Domestic Abuse: He physically and sexually abused Vi until she couldn't take it anymore and left him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: He returns to St. Jo's ostensibly to apologize and make amends, but as soon as the Bordelons reject him, he drops the act and taunts Violet by saying he's not at all sorry for how he treated her.
• Marital Rape License: He felt entitled to rape Vi whenever he wanted because he was her husband.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Ernest hated him and became estranged from Violet when she married him. The siblings only reconciled after Violet and Jimmy got divorced.

Billie Denton

Billie Denton

Played by: Tammy Townsend

• Awful Wedded Life: Downplayed. She wasn't happy with her long-term partner Vince, though they weren't technically married. They eventually reconcile in season 7.
• Crusading Lawyer: She uses her legal expertise to help Ralph Angel and the other black farmers get their COVID relief checks. In season 7, she helps find evidence of racial discrimination against the black farmers.
• Daddy's Girl: Subverted. She wishes she was closer to her father, but they have several personal issues to clear before they can have that kind of relationship.
• Green-Eyed Monster: She's envious of the bond her father has with the Bordelons and wish she were that close to him. She outed Nova to Ernest knowing he wouldn't take it well because she thought it was unfair that Nova had a good relationship with her father while Billie didn't.
• Slut-Shaming: Jimmy Dale sexually assaulted her when she was eighteen and bragged about how good she was in bed. Since he was still married to Violet back then, Billie was labeled a homewrecker and no one believed her when she said it wasn't her choice. Ernest was the only person who treated her well after that. Billie's own mother blamed her for the assault because of the way she dressed and acted. Billie couldn't even bring herself to tell her father what really happened.

The Landy Family

Samuel Landry

Samuel "Sam" Landry

Played by: David Jensen

A wealthy farmer who competes with the Bordelons.

• Disappeared Dad: Sam abandoned Betty while she was pregnant Parker to avoid being disowned by his father, didn't approve of their relationship. Betty didn't tell Parker the whole story because she didn't want her daughter to deal with the same bitterness she felt.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Between owning most of the land in the parish and running its only operational mill, his family has got a complete stranglehold on the local sugar industry. This quality must have passed through the generations, since the Landrys used to own slaves, including ancestors of the Bordelons.
• Faux Affably Evil: He always puts on his best manners, but is clearly not a good person.
• Rich Bitch: He's smug about his wealthy and threatens to drive the Bordelons out of business if they don't sell their land.
• Sibling Rivalry: He fights with Frances over control of Landy Enterprises.

Jacob Boudreaux

Jacob Boudreaux

Played by: Lea Coco

Sam's nephew, who has a crush on Charley.

• Back for the Finale: He returns in the finale episode of the series to help the Bordelons.
• Heel–Face Turn: In the series finale, he turns against his family and helps the black farmers regain their land.
• Momma's Boy: Played negatively. He almost always does whatever his mother tells him to, despite being a grown man. He even runs for city council just because she wants him to.
• Token Good Teammate: While still an antagonist, he's less of a complete asshole than the rest of his family. In season 4, he purposefully throws the city council election to help Charley get elected. By season 7, he has completely distanced himself from his family.
• Villainous Crush: On Charley. While she's not happy about it, she does take advantage of it when an opportunity arises.

Frances Boudreaux

Frances Anne Boudreaux (née Landy)

Played by: Annalee Jefferies

Sam's ruthless and calculating sister.

• Corrupt Corporate Executive: She's involved in a shady deal with Old World Energy to start a fracking operation in St. Jo's.
• Enemy Mine: Teams up with Charley to wrestle power away from Sam, only to betray her in season 4.
• Grande Dame: Of the Southern Belle variety. She's a powerful, wealthy woman from an important family who will do whatever it takes to get her way. She also has no issue pushing her adult son around.
• Irony: Hates interracial relationships, yet finds herself surrounded by them. Her grandfather married a black woman (making Frances part black), her brother had a child with a black woman, and even her son has feelings with a black woman.
• More Deadly Than the Male: Frances is colder, more manipulative, and more ruthless than Sam or Jacob. Not to mention more overtly racist.
• Sibling Rivalry: With Sam for control of their family company.

Parker Campbell (Imani Arsinoe)

Parker Campbell

Played by: Amirah Vann

Sam Landy's biracial daughter

• Category Traitor: Charley considers her this because she's a black woman working for companies that primarily screw over black communities.
• Heel–Face Turn: She backs out of helping Sam with his schemes after learning that he abandoned her and her mother to appease his father.
• Meaningful Rename: Her birth name is Imani Arsinoe, which she changed to Parker Campbell to fit in with white society.
• Mirror Character: To Charley. They are both ambitious, intelligent biracial women on opposite side of a family feud.
• Nom de Mom: Her birth name Imani Arsinoe. Although her parents were married, she had her mother Betty's surname due to her father's abandonment.
• Samus Is a Girl: While trying to find information on Parker, Charley initially assumes she's dealing with a white man and is shaken to discover that Parker is a black woman — and Sam Landy's daughter.

Other Characters

Melina Galoudian

Melina "Goldie" Galoudian

Played by: Estrella Nouri

The woman who sparked the sex scandal.

• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: She was being completely honest about what the players did to her and just wanted some justice.
• The Mistress: To Davis, who verbally and sexually abused her. He also let his teammates rape her and tried to cover it up, which is what made her break her silence.
• Rape as Drama: Claims to have been gang-raped by several basketball players, though many believe she's lying to get money out of them. She's not.
• The Reveal: She first appears to be a vindictive woman trying to squeeze money out of famous ball players, until a voice mail recording reveals that every allegation was completely true.

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