We live in a world that's obsessed with reality television. From The Bachelor/Bachelorette to the endless array of dating competitions, viewers love watching real drama with real people. So when a series comes along like Lifetime's new breakout drama UnREAL, fans were bound to fall in love with it. But while last season centered around Adam Cromwell, UnREAL Season 2 will introduce a new suitor in Darius Hill, played by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D star B.J. Britt. So who exactly is Darius Hill, you may be asking? On paper, his character can be described as a devilishly handsome pro football player looking for love. (Aren't we all?) But in all honesty, Darius' presence will also serve a much greater purpose, considering he will be Everlasting's first ever suitor of color.
It's a bold and exciting move made by Rachel Goldberg and Quinn King, who will once again serve as the main producers for the show. However, this decision also serves as a slight jab to ABC's Bachelor franchise, which has yet to cast a bachelor of color during its 20 seasons of being on the air. So Britt's role is going to extend far beyond that of just a man looking to fall in love and get married. It'll also be about breaking down important barriers regarding how people view race in reality TV, which should make for quite the compelling season. But really, should we have expected anything less from this show?
After all, the series has proven it definitely isn't afraid to tackle sensitive topics like domestic violence, suicide, and even mental illness. (And that's just from Season 1.) So it'll be interesting to see how they'll handle Rachel and Quinn's approach to the subject, especially given that they themselves are white females. "Quinn and Rachel are going to touch on black issues a lot," Britt revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly back in February. "But for Darius, it’s like, 'Is it their story to tell?' These [are] two white women." So don't necessarily expect Darius to be buddy-buddy with these two ladies. In fact, he may even decide to call them out on some of their morally ambiguous tactics in their quest for high ratings.
Either way, though, it looks like Darius is really going to shake things up on the Everlasting set in some form or another and help to make Season 2 even bolder and better than Season 1, if you can imagine such a thing. It kinda also makes you wonder what Season 3 will have in store. I, for one, can't wait to find out.
Images: Michelle Faye, Sergei Bachlakov/Lifetime
