Best known to daytime fans for her portrayal as Jessica Griffin on “As The World Turns,” actress Tamara Tunie has joined the cast of CBS’ “Beyond The Gates,” the newly retitled daytime drama series set to premiere in early 2025 on the network, it was announced on Thursday.
CBS
Tunie is set to play “Anita Dupree,” the family’s matriarch who at one time was a famous singer. Since leaving that life behind, Anita has worked hard for her success, while also raising two daughters with her now-retired senator husband. Underneath her glamorous and refined exterior, there is a fierceness she’s gained from her humble beginnings in Chicago.
“Beyond The Gates” tells the story of the Duprees, a powerful and prestigious multi-generational family that is the very definition of Black royalty.
Set in a leafy Maryland suburb just outside of Washington D.C., and in one the most affluent African American counties in the United States, “Beyond The Gates” is where viewers will find a posh gated community filled with winding tree-lined streets and luxurious mansions that the wealthy call home.
Behind the pristine walls and lush, manicured gardens are juicy secrets and scandals waiting to be uncovered. As for those living outside the gates, they are indeed watching closely. For every person who has “made it,” there are always those who have not. Follow the characters as they live, love, work, and play, all while trying to navigate life, some more gracefully than others.
Soap alums Daphnee Duplaix (“One Life to Live,” “Passions”) and Karla Mosley (“The Bold and the Beautiful,” “Guiding Light”) have been cast as Anita’s daughters, Dr. Nicole Dupree Richardson and Dani Dupree, respectively.
Having established herself outside of daytime with several prominent roles in primetime, most notably starring as Dr. Melinda Warner on NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” for 23 seasons, Tunie also held recurring roles on “Blue Bloods,” “The Good Wife” and “Elementary,” among others. More recently, she co-starred in the Apple TV+ original series “See” alongside Jason Momoa, and the Netflix drama “Cowboy Bebop” alongside John Cho.
Following her time on “As The World Turns,” Tunie appeared as a judge who presided over the trial case brought against John Black (Drake Hogestyn) back in 2011 when the character was arrested shortly after the unveiling of Horton Town Square.
In addition to her television roles, Tunie has also been featured in several films, playing opposite Oscar winner Denzel Washington in “Flight,” along with roles in “Fall to Rise,” “Irreplaceable You,” “Her Only Choice,” and more recently “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody” where she portrayed Cissy Houston, the mother of Whitney. Tunie also starred in “A Journal for Jordan,” working alongside Michael B. Jordan (ex-Reggie Montgomery, “All My Children”).
Created by Michele Val Jean, who also serves as showrunner/executive producer, “Beyond The Gates” is produced by the CBS Studios/NAACP Venture, led by Sheila Ducksworth, in partnership with P&G Studios, a division of Procter & Gamble. Robert Guza Jr. (“General Hospital,” “Sunset Beach”), Julie Carruthers (“All My Children,” “Port Charles”), Leon Russell, Derrick Johnson, Kimberly Doebereiner and Anna Saalfeld are set as executive producers alongside Val Jean and Ducksworth.
Production on the show is set to begin later this fall in Atlanta with CBS saying the show will premiere in early 2025. Previously the network announced the series would launch in January 2025.
