Amid Woke being back for season 2 on Hulu, the cast reflected on how their perception of the word has changed.
In this day and age the term “woke” can be endearing, but for some it could simply mean that you’re doing the most. Whichever way you spin it, the hit series is back, and in just a matter of time, the name even has a new meaning for those connected to the show.
Shadow and Act recently spoke to series stars Lamorne Morris, Sasheer Zamata, T Murph and Blake Anderson ahead of the new season.
“I feel like in the first season, Ayana was the woke guru,” said Sasheer Zamata on how her character’s commitment to the cause has shifted now that the second season is here. “She was the one helping Keef with his journey to the other side, but in the second season she’s analyzing her own work and questioning if the work [that] she’s been doing for years that’s been affecting her is actually even making an impact.”
“And I think people can relate to that because we don’t actually know the right way to do anything, we’re just hoping that the work that we’re putting out there is reaching people in a way that communicates our goals,” she added.
“We’re all just trying to do our best so I feel like in the second season, people are going to see Ayana’s journey as a more vulnerable one because she’s learning that she doesn’t have all the answers and maybe she does need a little bit of help.”
Fo Morris, who portrays the main character Keef as he continues his journey to being woke, the second season aims to encourage people that it’s okay to live your life the way that you want to live your life.
“You don’t have to pick sides, you can just love, be kind to folks, [and] fix what you can change,” he said. “You can do that thing, it doesn’t have to be grand, it doesn’t have to be big, and it doesn’t have to be performative, you know what I mean? You can just be. If you want to be an ally, cool. Sometimes it’s okay to just do nothing. Sometimes it’s okay to just say ‘man I get it.’ You don’t have to have a quote wall, you don’t have to read off these books and do all this stuff all the time.”
The whole concept of being woke for T Murph (Clovis), has changed but it's really all about being aware of what’s happening in the world.
“Woke for me just means people that are aware,” he shared. “So just aware of your surroundings, aware of what’s going on right in front of you. A lot of people act as though they don’t see things that may be happening in today’s world. When we talk about how it’s changed, there’s people who consider themselves woke or will consider themselves an ally and there are people who will try to call them social media activists, but social media activists actually still do the work. [They] may promote positivity on a page when a lot of these people are just doing it for the likes. They’re just trying to get them a quick little picture, quick little boomerang so the term woke has definitely changed. I don’t consider myself woke anymore, I just tell people that I’m aware.”
Season two of Woke is now available for streaming on Hulu.
Watch the full interview above.
