Karen Pittman is all too familiar with quality content. From The Morning Show to And Just Like That…, she’s built a career playing dynamic characters at the heart of smart, socially conscious storytelling. But in Forever, the new Netflix series, Pittman steps into uncharted territory—both professionally and emotionally. Adapted by Mara Brock Akil and executive produced by Regina King, the show reimagines Judy Blume’s iconic 1975 novel through a contemporary lens, centering Black love, family, and the growing pains of adolescence in a pre–George Floyd America. It’s the kind of project that doesn’t come around often—and Pittman knew that from the jump.
“I don’t have anything like this in my body of work on television,” she tells ESSENCE. “I’ve done it in theater, but not in this way with these collaborators.” When Akil approached her about the role of Dawn Edwards—a high-powered finance executive and fiercely protective mother— she knew the stars had aligned. “It’s not very often in your career, as an actress, that people will allow you to break the mold and do something different,” she says. “And Mara is known for centering Black women. That meant something to me.”
In the series, Dawn is the mother of Justin, a teenager navigating first love, identity, and independence. It’s an effort that required Pittman to tap into her own maternal instincts—but with restraint. “Dawn and I are two very, very different mothers,” she says with a laugh. “But that level of ferocity in how she protects her children? I’m completely aligned with that. There’s no compromising for me in that way.” While Dawn exudes what Pittman calls “razzle dazzle”—the kind of presence that makes people sit up straighter when she enters the room—she’s also raw, vulnerable, and struggling with the terrifying transition of letting her son go into a situation that she can’t control.
The series is set in 2018, a time the Screen Actors Guild Award-nominee describes as “pre-reckoning.” Before the pandemic, before widespread calls for racial justice, the show captures the quiet anxieties that defined so many Black households. “It’s a precarious place for a mother to be,” she explains. “Watching your child go out into a hostile world. This show reflects where we were as a country then, and why Dawn is so fiercely focused on her son’s growth.”
It helps that Pittman’s co-stars include Wood Harris, who plays Justin’s father. The two actors share not just professional chemistry, but a shared language that goes back to their NYU roots. “We spoke fluently with each other,” she says. “Wood was just the perfect gentleman of a co-star—open, accessible, and full of respect for the work. Our characters deeply love each other, and the conflict between them is about noble issues, not petty drama. It made the scenes feel rich.”
The dream team doesn’t end there. Pittman lights up when talking about being directed by King, whose artistic instincts and personal experience added depth to the work. “Regina grew up in L.A., she’s been a mother to a son at that age—there was so much synergy,” she says. “She’s an actor’s director, totally in command, but also connected to the crew in a way that made the whole set feel grounded.”
But it’s Akil, Pittman says, who built the foundation. “Mara could write for anyone, do anything—but she chooses to center her work around us,” she says. “She’s intentional in a way I’ve never experienced. We’ve seen her impact through Girlfriends, Being Mary Jane, The Game—but this series gives us a different dimension of her vision. It’s tender. It’s sharp. It’s deeply, deeply Black.”
For Pittman, Forever is more than a new credit on her already impressive résumé—it’s a homecoming of sorts. A chance to stretch, to collaborate with creatives she admires, and to tell a story that resonates on every level.
“It’s one of those rare times where the work, the people, and the message all align,” she says. “And when that happens, you jump.”
