Issa Rae no longer heeds advice to cast white characters in her shows: 'We are enough'

Issa Rae is looking back on the lessons learned as she's become a multi-hyphenate creator.

The "Insecure" writer/actor/director is the cover star of the relaunched Mic publication and is gearing up for the premiere of her last season of the series. She revealed in the cover story that when she was just launching her web series that became the inspiration for the HBO series, she was told she needed to include white characters.

"It was put in my mind that you had to have a white character to be a bridge, and for people to care, for it to get awards, for it to be considered worthy of the television canon,” she told Mic in the interview published Wednesday.

Rae said she took the advice by introducing characters like White Jay from "Awkward Black Girl" and her We Got Y'all coworker Frieda, but eventually learned that strategy didn't align with her vision.

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"When Issa quit work and we got rid of the We Got Y'all storyline, I realized, ‘Oh my gosh, our show is just about Black characters now in the most refreshing way,' ” she said.

"I want people to know we are enough,” she added.

The 36-year-old show creator talked with USA TODAY in 2016 around the time "Insecure" was premiering on HBO. She said she knew her show centered around Black characters but never wanted the pressure of being representative of all Black people.

"There's just so many other facets of Black people's lives being represented that it's a relief," she told USA TODAY as shows like "Queen Sugar" and "Atlanta" were beginning to take off at the time. "If people are like, 'Why doesn't your show have this?' or 'Black women don't do this,' then it's like, 'OK, well, go watch that other show and you may get your fill.' "

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Issa Rae says she was told to cast white characters in her shows