‘Greenleaf’ Star Merle Dandridge Talks OWN’s Juicy New Family Drama (Featuring Oprah)
We all know how irresistible a scandal is when it rocks the seemingly righteous. And on Greenleaf, the new OWN drama premiering June 21, more than one member of the megachurch-running Greenleaf family appears to be ripe for one.
Sons of Anarchy’s Merle Dandridge stars as Grace Greenleaf, the prodigal daughter who returns home to Memphis after 20 years away to help bury a sister and decides to stay with her manipulative mother, Lynn Whitfield’s Lady Mae, adoring Bishop father (Keith David), and competitive siblings to bring to light the family’s many secrets.
“It wasn’t a pleasant parting,” Dandridge told us in a Facebook live chat earlier this month. “So when she comes back, the first thing her mother says to her is, ‘Promise me you’re not here to sow discord in the fields of my peace’ — not ‘Baby! It’s nice to see you!’ None of that. It’s very clear and calculated, and you are not going to ruin this kingdom, you are not gonna come back and ruffle all these feathers. As Lynn likes to put it, [Lady Mae’s] the gatekeeper.”
Though she wouldn’t wish the Greenleafs’ exact family dynamic on anyone, she does think parts of it will resonate. “Everyone can relate to different family dramas that they have and the very layered relationships that are happening,” she said. “And so we get all of that stuff, and then put behind it the backdrop of a megachurch that, well let’s say, is rife with a lot of issues — with a little bit of corruption, a little bit of greed, maybe abuse of children, unfortunately. We also touch on things like Black Lives Matter. We touch on so many things that I think are hot-button right now. The great thing about it is that when you put it into a story format, then suddenly these things become human. It’s not just issue, issue, and we don’t know how to reach across the aisle. We can see it through somebody else’s eyes and have some sympathy and maybe a little bit of understanding, which I think is just fantastic. And okay, so it’s done with a little bit of soap and sex and a lot of gloss and fun.”
A week after initially reading with the show’s casting director for the role of single mother Grace — who’d been in line to inherit her father’s pulpit before she left — Dandridge got an email that read: “Ms. Winfrey would like to meet with you at 6 p.m. today.” Oprah Winfey is not only an executive producer of the show, she also plays Grace’s nightclub-owning aunt. “I was working that day, so I didn’t have time to get nervous or even figure out, ‘Oh, what am I going to wear?’ or anything like that. Just go, be yourself. And we sat down and had a wonderful conversation,” Dandridge said. “And it just felt so right and so good.”
Oprah Winfrey in ‘Greenleaf’ (OWN)
While Grace does plan to “dust all of the dirt out of the church,” Dandridge said Grace can’t help but also see that there’s something redeeming that the church is doing. “Even though there’s all these corrupt things that have polluted, and the weeds that have grown up around the soft heart of the church, there is still something there. She also finds that they can be the balm to the people. There is a possibility to turn that back around,” she said. “And the same with her father, because she sees him for the good man that he is; she just doesn’t like what he does sometimes. I think that’s a very complicated thing, because a lot of us can relate to wanting that love of our parents but not necessarily loving their actions.”
Watch the full conversation above to hear Dandridge talk about her time on Sons of Anarchy and The Night Shift, as well as why she’s so proud to have come from the Broadway community.
Greenleaf’s two-night premiere airs June 21 at 10 p.m. ET, at June 22 at 9 p.m. ET. The remaining episodes will air regularly on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET.
