Cheddar's Azia Celestino sits down with actors J. Alphonse Nicholson and Shannon Thornton to talk all about the new season of the Starz drama 'P-Valley.'

Between Bells

Starz Series 'P-Valley' Gears Up for Season Two

back on shadow News. Everyone, Uncle Clifford and his girls are returning to the pink this week for a second season of P Valley and this time we get a look at how the Mississippi Strip club is bouncing back after the pandemic. Take a look at this. The governor of Mississippi has just announced that lockdown will end next week. You ready for that? Grand reopening? Hey, you can't throw a rock without hitting five businesses. It ain't closed down. Oh y'all best appreciate what I've been doing these past five months. Keep on this booty gonna be gone. So finally we get to see your last dance. Huh? I'm auditioning for some new girls Beyonce need her kelly and Michelle. The best we had are gone. I ain't no coach. You are actually pretty intense Cheddars. Asia Celestino sat down with the stars of the show. J Alphonse Nicholson and Shannon thornton to give us some insight on what we should be expecting as the season. Uh, and a closer look at their characters as the season gets ready to start, take a look at this Keyshawn is ah chuckle leases black barbie doll. She is a ball of energy. She is the life of the party. She is deeply, she's, she's complex and, and and very complicated and grappling with um yes, just, just being a Mom of two Children while being in an abusive relationship. Also working nights at the Pink as one of their top dancers and I have to say like in every scene you look gorgeous. So I have to like really focus like that fits are there. She's just like the sweetest character, I really have to like focus in on everything that she brings to the table beyond just like the aesthetic love your character. J Alphonse, you also play Little Murder Talk a little bit about him for those who aren't familiar with the show, Little Murder. He's he's the everyman, as I like to say, you know, Cantori calls him a street street Grigio Street grill as we say down at the paint and um, you know, he's just a man in this community who's trying to still find who he is, finding sexual identity, find who he is as a musician. Um he's a lover, he's a really good friend, you know, he can be a comedian that sometimes he can be hilarious, you know, so he has this wonderful colors to him and I'm just grateful to be able to have the opportunity to show the range that I'm able to show as an actor with this character. We see him in some of his darkest moments. We see him in some of his highest moments, you know, season one being this incredible ride to kind of having this drop. And then season two, kind of starting back up on that ride and seeing how far we go until, you know, there's another big drop because we all have those highs and lows. A little Murder. He's the every man, you know, he's very relatable, I would like to say, and you two have a really interesting dynamic. I remember a scene last season where Que shawna is coaching murder through his stage fright. So I want to ask you Shannon, like how do you prep for this series? It must be intimidating because of not only the choreography but also the lyrical nature of the script. It's like no other show I've worked on before in that we are putting on full on musical productions within within this series. So we have, we have our actors actually performing the songs and, and wrapping and then you have us like going through stripper boot camp that the girls, um actually dancing on the stage and doing very athletic, their grueling pole work. Um, it was, the process was just intense. I taught myself how to do splits in four months, which I'm really, really proud of. Um, and we got to see some splits on the pole this season. Um, We have some incredible choreographers, We have Jamaica craft who's choreographed Sierra who's helping us with dance routines. We also have Jack Well Knight who's worked with Beyonce. So we have the best of the best and then there's the preparation for the acting portion um, which is where you trust what you're acting coach and and everybody who's, who's, who's taught you and mentored you from the beginning of your career on you, just trust, trust that you, you know, you're going to do some really good work, you trust the writing, you listen to what the actor, the other actors are saying, you're seeing partners and you just as Alphonse says, breathe and believe and you know, Yeah, and J Alphonse, your character kind of similar to Keyshawn brings a lot of, like, important issues to the forefront in your performance, homophobia, toxic masculinity. What has the feedback been like from fans in your portrayal of this character? Well, you know, you you have to take the good with the bad and so it's been a lot of overwhelming um just heartwarming comments and people saying how they see themselves in a little murder and how it's changed your life, then you also got that group that, you know, they don't quite understand it and they kind of, you know, stick with the stigma that's been thrown on top of this character in real life, where it's like, you can't be that that's not gonna work, you know, whatever case it may be, and so I just kind of take it with a grain of salt and some of it you have to kind of let it roll right off your back and the other parts of it, it really sits with you and it lets you know that you're doing something that's important and it lets you know that you're doing for me, I feel like I've had the opportunity to play a character that will be remembered forever, You know, he's a life changing character and something that we haven't seen before. And this season two we go even further with that, as far as pushing the envelope and seeing things that you've never seen before. I add the music component on top of that, and it's one of the greatest roles I've ever had the opportunity to play. And so, you know, I just want to continue to make sure that the voice that is not being heard and the people that aren't being seen have that opportunity. Really great interview special. Thanks to J. Alphonse Nicholson and Shannon thornton there with our Asia Celestino.