Diarra from Detroit is an American mystery dark comedy drama television series created by Diarra Kilpatrick and executive produced by Kilpatrick and Kenya Barris. The series stars Kilpatrick as a divorced schoolteacher who believes that she has been ghosted by her rebound Tinder date. Her search for the missing man pulls her into an old mystery involving the Detroit underworld.
The series premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival on June 14, 2023. It premiered on March 21, 2024, on BET+ to positive reviews from critics. In April 2025, the series was renewed for a second season, which premieres on July 29, 2026 on Paramount+, following BET+'s shutdown the prior June.
Contents
Plot
In season 1, Diarra goes on a date with Chris (Shannon Wallace) who disappears afterward. Diarra's investigation to find him connects to a decades-old missing child case of Deonte Brooks, and to various local crime organizations that are in conflict. Diarra obtains the assistance of Vonda (Phylicia Rashad), the mother of Deonte. She also deals with an acrimonious divorce with ex-spouse "Swa" (Morris Chestnut).
In season 2, Chris re-unites with his family, but he is soon jailed as a suspect in a triple murder that he didn't commit. Diarra leads an investigation to find the true killer and thereby free Chris, while also investigating a landlord's missing "armoire" (actually a desk) which is part of an elaborate mystery dating to the Prohibition Era. Diarra's circle of friends and investigators now includes Chris's cousin Mac (Chris Powell) and her cousin Raqueeba (Shoniqua Shandai), and she renews a relationship with ex-boyfriend Royce (Method Man). The case brings her to an undercover initiation into the freemasons and to secrets at an Underground Railroad site beneath the Detroit Trinity Rose Baptist Church. She comes into conflict with various groups seeking the same mystery and treasure, including a local underworld figure (Bokeem Woodbine), the Detroit Preservation Council, and a white-supremacist militia. Diarra has also learned that "The Chief", the arch-criminal responsible for events in Season 1, is Walter Harley (Harry Lennix), a powerful businessman and crime lord. Harley threatens the lives and livelihoods of Diarra's friends if she reveals his actions.
Cast and characters
Main
Diarra Kilpatrick as Diarra Brickland.She works as a school teacher and gets into private investigation when a man she is dating disappears. Due to her recent divorce with Swa, she takes control of their 1970 Chevelle and uses it through the series.
Morris Chestnut as François "Swa" BricklandDiarra's ex-husband and a successful lawyer. While having an acrimonious relationship with Diarra, he attempts to use his connections to keep her safe as she becomes entangled with local criminal groups.
DomiNque Perry as AjaDiarra's friend. Her religious celibacy conflicts with her strong romantic attraction to Keyshawn. She is an aspiring businessperson and begins to have dealings with Walter Harley, a powerful developer.
Claudia Logan as MoniDiarra's childhood best friend. She is married to Roman.
Bryan Terrell Clark as Mr. TeaA gay friend and co-worker of Diarra. He has a frustrated and ambivalent relationship with a romantic partner, DJ Jerrell. He wants to kick Jerrell out of his house, but can't commit to doing it, partly because Jerrell cooks him delicious food and has an undeniably positive effect on Tea's life.
Shannon Wallace as ChrisHe dates Diarra for a short time before being abducted and disappearing. Diarra nicknames him "Ambien" in her narration, because their short romance together cured her insomnia. Although he disappears in the first episode, Diarra experiences imaginary visions of him where he gives her comfort and advice.
Jon Chaffin as "Danger"A long-time friend and neighbor of Diarra. The show depicts occasional brief telepathic communication between Diarra and Danger. His voice sometimes sounds like he has something caught in his throat, which Diarra later realizes is psychosomatic.
Phylicia Rashad as Vonda BrooksThe mother of Deonte Brooks who was abducted at the mall 30 years ago during a moment of inattention. Rashad has said about the character, "here is a woman who is complex and complicated, whose personal history isn’t necessarily ideal. She is wanting to make amends. She is wanting to make something of her life that will somehow balance the terrible misstep."
Recurring
Chris Powell (Season 2) as Mac. A family member of Chris and member of Diarra's investigatory group. Powell is also a writer on the series.
Shoniqua Shandai as Raqueeba (Season 2), Diarra's cousin
Glynn Turman as Ron. Diarra's landlord who hires her to find his precious missing heirloom "armoire" (actually a desk) for a reward of 3 month's rent.
David Zayas as Marshall, a ragged ex-detective who originally investigated the Deonte Brooks case but was run out of the police force because of his persistent work against corruption and organized crime.
Julio Macias as Young Marshall
Method Man as Royce (Season 2), a previous romantic partner of Diarra and now her ally
Joe Lorenzo as Detective Holstein, a police officer who somewhat helps Diarra with information and warnings.
Jude Demorest as Bailey, a Homeward Farms member who has a relationship with Danger
Harry Lennix as Walter Harley, an influential developer and noted businessman
Kinyumba Mutakabbir as Keyshawn, a football player and romantic interest of Aja
Warren Egypt Franklin as DJ Jerrell. Jerrell is temporarily living as a "hobosexual" with Mr. Tea and has various excuses for why he can't go home. Diarra needs Tea to be friendly toward Jerrell because he could potentially ruin Diarra's alibi in a police investigation.
Paul Ben-Victor as Zervas (Season 1), the leader of the local Greek mob
Guest
Nicco Annan as an ex-boyfriend of Mr. Tea. He gives shelter to Diarra and friends during a manhunt for them in the streets. He critically psycho-analyzes Mr. Tea when they bicker about past grievances.
Lil Rel Howery as Film School (Season 2), a small-time filmmaker who was held captive at the "Vultures" bar by Cartier Kelly and is freed by Diarra
Kash Doll as Maisha, an enforcer for Tony
Bill Duke as a freemason leader. He accepts Diarra and Aja when they disguise themselves as men for a fake initiation as part of a scheme.
Bokeem Woodbine as Cartier Kelly (Season 2), a local crime lord and bar-owner. He took over a local bar, "Vultures", by single-handedly killing the gang of nazis who had previously occupied it.
Development
Executive producer Kenya Barris and Kilpatrick had met at awards shows and film festivals and had intended to work together, but scheduling hadn't allowed it. After Barris joined BET+ he invited writers to do overall deals, called Kilpatrick to ask her to join, and accepted her pitch for the show after a meeting. Kilpatrick has said that “the [elevator] pitch was ‘Sex and the City’ crash-lands into ‘Chinatown’ and drop the whole thing in chocolate." BET's streaming division offered a script-to-series deal, meaning they would skip a pilot production process.
Kilpatrick has said that development was a fairly painless process and well-timed and that she did not have to fight for the show to exist in the context of her being "darker than a paper bag" and over 35. Although she knew the offered deal was equal to what more established creators had been offered, Kilpatrick still had the inclination to pitch to many more studios because she was used to "fighting for every crumb."
Kilpatrick has discussed the sentiments behind the show in interviews with NPR and Vulture. The story of the character Deonte Brooks was partly based on the real case of the missing child D'Wan Sims. Other inspirations for the show include having watched many murder mystery shows like Murder She Wrote, Matlock, Perry Mason, and Columbo with her grandmother as a child, and situations of crimes and foibles that had affected family members and friends. For example, Kilpatrick's mother was once robbed, recognized one of the robbers as the son of a friend, and later had the robber help her find the stolen items that he had ditched, a situation partly re-recreated in the show. In another real-life example partly re-created in the show, Kilpatrick's grandmother ventured into a crackhouse to retrieve a stolen television in order to watch her shows on time. Kilpatrick has also explained that she had an idyllic childhood in Detroit despite widespread notions of the city as decaying and dangerous.
Casting
Guest star Phylicia Rashad has said that the writing was a large reason why she joined the show. "I hadn't met Diarra, but when I read the script, my thought was that whoever wrote this is really clever and onto something." Kilpatrick acknowledged the broad fame of the Clair Huxtable role in the public mind, but as a theater actor herself associated Rashad with versatile performances on stage. Co-star Morris Chestnut similarly said that when he first read the script, he knew it was something that was truly different.
Co-star Bryan Terrell Clark said that when viewers feel the chemistry on screen, it’s because Kilpatrick cast a group of people that "actually get along and care about each other.” Before joining the series, many of the cast knew one another through the industry or had worked together.
A part had been written by Kilpatrick with actor Colman Domingo in mind for the role, but the assumption was that he would be too expensive and he was never contacted. On learning about this, Domingo explained that the show is one of his favorites and stated publicly that he would have gladly worked "for scale" meaning a minimal guild rate.
Production
On March 21, 2023, it was announced that BET+ ordered eight-episode straight-to-series project Diarra from Detroit created by Diarra Kilpatrick. The series was produced by BET Studios and Khalabo Ink Society. By June, Morris Chestnut, DomiNque Perry, Claudia Logan, Bryan Terrell Clark, Phylicia Rashad, Shannon Wallace and Jon Chaffin had joined the main cast.
Principal photography began in February 2023 in Secaucus, New Jersey and Moonachie, New Jersey and benefitted from tax credits there. Variety wrote that the show "uses New Jersey as a stand-in for the Midwestern city, [but] the settings and costuming are so perfectly crafted that viewers would never know the difference." The costume designers are Paige Geran and Anitra Michelle. Season 2 shot in Atlanta which has attempted to attract productions.
On April 28, 2025, BET+ renewed the series for a second season, which premieres on July 29, 2026 on Paramount+, following BET+'s shutdown the prior June.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a rating of 100% based on 13 reviews. Reviewers have praised the writing, performances, Kilpatrick's persona, the ensemble chemistry, the tone, the comedy, and the sense of place in the setting, while qualified criticism has focussed on the plot complexity.
Aramide Tinubu from Variety gave it a positive review and wrote: "[it] might have been a hodgepodge of confusion in less capable hands. However, Kilpatrick and her writers execute the dramedy flawlessly. […] Unlike anything seen on television in recent years. [...] A spectacularly paced whodunit, especially as Diarra pulls her reluctant friends into her fatigue-fueled shenanigans. Refreshing, captivating and unapologetically Black." John Powers of NPR said, the show is "at once a mystery, a romcom, a vision of women's power, a portrait of Black Detroit and a cornucopia of good jokes" and that it has "some of the liberating, gleefully obscene craziness of an early Almodovar film."
NPR journalist Tonya Mosley, who is from Detroit, said about the show, "This work is unlike anything I've ever seen. It's smart and funny while also interweaving some very serious topics, like the epidemic of missing Black children and the social and economic challenges of Detroit. [It also] tackles divorce and friendship and betrayal and police corruption. [...] There is a lightness and a depth that is rarely given to stories about the city. [Kilpatrick] really conveys community and a sense of place that I've never seen [on screen] about our hometown." Melanie McFarland at Salon wrote, "Diarra [the character] is knowable yet not conventionally categorizable. [...] Diarra From Detroit conveys a sense of place, community, and legitimate lightness infrequently (if ever) portrayed about Detroit, a city condemned by entertainment and media coverage as a tragic, violence-plagued lost cause." She also said Kilpatrick's work is wonderful and bracingly funny.
Judy Berman at Time wrote, "The mystery is intriguing, but the show’s real draw are hilarious scripts delivered by a wonderful cast. [...] Kilpatrick’s noirish narration, pithy one-liners, and endearingly over-the-top presence tie it all together, making her one of TV’s freshest and funniest auteurs. Mark Peikert at IndieWire wrote that "[this] comedic mystery noir is a smorgasbord of delights, all filtered through the singular vision of its creator." Peikert said that the writers are thrillingly unafraid of letting Diarra be egregiously wrong, and that another thrill is "the almost tactile look of the show, all deep hues and moody lighting. This isn’t rain-slicked L.A. streets noir; this is Detroit winter noir, and the difference is invigorating."
Themes
Taryn Finley at Ebony wrote that in Season 2, Diarra uses "ancestor veneration" to crack the case and that the scenario "cleverly maps out the interconnected significance of Black institutions and traditions: the church, oral histories and secret societies [...] as a reminder of why they’re worth fighting for."
Tonya Mosley at NPR said that a hallmark of the series, and other works by Kilpatrick, is the humanization of people not usually portrayed with any complexity, including strippers and gang members. She said that the depiction makes them "funny and vulnerable and basically human beings, even in the worst scenarios."
Nandini Balial wrote that the show is a "crash course in Detroit history" and conveys an array of city information including its connection to the Underground Railroad, the Prohibition Era, Motown, and urban design.