When you’re a kid, you think you know you’re parents. As you get older and really listen to their stories, you realize this is a fascinating person who lived a full life before you came into the picture. If you’re lucky, the most shocking thing you discover is that they once went to a James Brown concert. If you’re the characters in Hulu’s new series, Black Cake, you find out your mom mysteriously disappeared from her previous life and took on a whole new identity. As Benny and Byron unravel the secrets of their mother Eleanor’s past, they also reckon with their own identities and life choices. Creator/writer Marissa Jo Cerar spoke to The Root about adapting Charmaine Wilkerson’s bestselling novel into the epic series and bringing life to the memorable characters.
“Our parents are people before they have us. Your life changes and it’s a different identity,” Cerar told The Root. “I absolutely was so fascinated by examining how much do we share? Should we share it all or should we withhold some of those experiences? Why are we choosing to keep the secrets? Is it about protecting our kids or is it about our own shame?”
As the series unfolds, viewers get to explore the two sides to Eleanor/Covey’s personality. For Cerar, the character’s questions about her identity and who she truly is, are at the heart of the story.
“As Eleanor reaches the end of her life, she’s asking herself, ‘Am I Covey, how much of Covey is still in me?’ She’s forcing herself to relive all of those really traumatic experiences, but also remembering some of the most beautiful moments of her life,” she said. “She is Covey. She’s realizing that and other characters realize that as well. But then they have to think ‘What does that mean for me? Who am I? Am I still the daughter of Eleanor, this perfect mother who lives in Orange County? Or am I the daughter of Covey? This girl who was sold into a marriage, who fought back, who was an outspoken girl.’ I just love how it makes us really think about who we are and makes our characters examine their own identities when their mother is revealing that she literally lived a stolen one.”
Black Cake is a huge, sweeping epic that spans continents and time periods. It features a diverse cast of characters, which is something we don’t normally get to see in historical romantic dramas. This is not lost on Cerar, as the characters are what helped her ground the story amid its big setting.
“The soul of the story is about the characters. It is about this young girl coming of age, sold into a marriage, running for her life and everything that follows,” Cerar said. “It’s about her best friend coming of age in a time where she’s told to live in the closet. It’s about her grown daughter struggling to live up to these expectations set forth by who knows how many generations that preceded her. It’s about this young black ocean scientist living in Orange County, trying to figure out who he is. So as epic, beautiful and big as it is, it’s nothing without these character arcs.”
TV series and films adapted from novels always lead to questions about how much of the book is included and where to differentiate what’s on screen from what’s on the page. Cerar clearly connected with these characters and their lives, so there’s no need to worry about how she will treat them in the series.
Black Cake is now available on Hulu, with new episodes premiering every Wednesday.