In an exclusive with Deadlineit was announced that Power star Naturi Naughton will co-lead opposite Eve in the ABC’s Queens.
Read below via Deadline:
In Queens, written by McGhee, four estranged and out-of-touch women in their 40s reunite for a chance to recapture their fame and regain the swagger they had as the Nasty Bitches – their ’90s group that made them legends in the hip-hop world.
Naughton plays Jill, aka Da Thrill, a founding member of the Nasty Bitches — the group she formed with her high school friends. Da Thrill lived fast, had rugged rhymes and a troubling drug habit. Today, Jill couldn’t be more put together. She’s a devout Catholic living a quiet life in Montana with her husband. But everything isn’t as idyllic as it seems. Jill is haunted by past secrets.
The Nasty Bitches reuniting allows Jill to escape her issues at home but returning to her persona as Da Thrill conjures up difficult memories. But a friendship with a young rapper that she has almost nothing in common with will hilariously help Jill figure out the person she needs to be.
Naughton brings personal experience to the project — before her transition into film and television, she was a member of the Platinum-selling Pop trio 3LW.
Eve plays another of the four women, Brianna. McGhee and Wind executive produce.
Naughton opted to do Queens having been sought for multiple TV projects coming off six seasons of Starz’s flagship drama Power and a season of the successful offshoot Power Book II: Ghost, playing Tasha St. Patrick.
While Naughton is no longer a series regular on Power Book II: Ghost after Tasha went into Witness Protection in the Season 1 finale, Naughton is set to reprise her role in some fashion down the road.
A singer, songwriter and actress, Naughton is a two-time NAACP Image Award winner for her work on Power. In 2020, Naturi starred in the film Emperor, about an escaped slave who travels north and has chance encounters with Frederick Douglass and John Brown.
Naughton’s credits also include Fox Searchlight’s movie Notorious and MGM’s remake of Fame and appearances on Mad Men and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. She also appeared on Broadway in the Tony-winning musical Hairspray for three years.
Naughton, who has been awarded by the Women in Entertainment Executive Network, The 2019 Triumph Awards, Black Women in Film Summit, and The National Urban League of New York for Outstanding works in TV & Film, is repped by Gersh and Brecheen Feldman Breimer Silver & Thompson.
