It is no secret that Issa Rae has been booked and busy. Besides wrapping Insecure this season and starting production for her new show, Rap $hit, Issa surprised her fans in July with pictures from her wedding to Louis Diame. The share was a unprecedented move for Issa who is quite private about her personal life. Issa was on the Tamron Hall Show this week. Issa said she decided to post the pictures because her dress designer, Vera Wang, had planned to post them and she wanted to tell her own story. Issa explained that she decided to end Insecure after five seasons because she wanted to respect people’s time. She also wanted the show to end while it was still popular. Issa went on to say that her mom always told her to “never overstay your welcome.” Below are a few more highlights via People. The video of the full interview is below.
“It was just a beautiful experience,” the Emmy-nominated actress told host Tamron Hall of her wedding day. “People tell you that it goes by fast, and they’re right. But my thing was, it was a party. At the end of the day, it was just a big party. And it was a lot of fun.”
“I feel so blessed to be surrounded by people who took the time out to just come and celebrate, and that’s something that I’ll cherish for the rest of my life,” she added.
In her sit-down with Hall, the actress also shared the reasoning behind the decision to end Insecure with its upcoming season. Rae explained that she and executive producer Prentice Penny agreed five seasons would be enough to tell a concise story about the show’s characters navigating life in Los Angeles.
“I’m very conscious of people giving their time to the show and five years is a lot of time, and six years for some of us,” she said. “And you know, from the writers to the crew to the actors, I knew, I’m like, ‘We’re gonna get tired of each other after maybe four years, five years. So let’s cut it short while we still love each other.'”
I really enjoyed this interview. You can tell that Issa does not like talking about her private life but I love how Tamron segued into that by sharing her pregnancy announcement story. I really enjoyed listening to Issa talk about her process for Insecure and how she wanted to write the show from a Black gaze.
I also thought it was smart that Issa decided from jump to end the show after five seasons. She wanted to tell the characters’ stories in a full circle and end the show while it was still popular. This is how writers and producers of shows should think. I am still traumatized from season seven of Game of Thrones (yes I am still gnawing on that bone) and the way the writers ended that show. There was no forethought on how to wrap up the characters’ stories and it was a disappointing mess. The fact that Issa had already thought out how she would end Insecure in season one lets me know that this last season is going to be a great one. It will be hard for us fans to say goodbye. But as Issa’s mom said, “one should never overstay your welcome.” Those are great words to live by.
Watching the early YouTube skits to the series Insecure has been sublime. I can’t help but wonder how many other Issa Rae like folks have stories yet to tell. I admire Ms Rae for growing into her power right before our eyes. If you don’t believe in you who will?
Never thought of her as a Vera Wang girl, tbh. But yeah leave ’em wanting more.
I always thought that 5 years for a television show was a sweet spot where you can avoid jumping the shark & free yourself artistically for other endeavors…especially if you are new to the game like Issa & so much of her team is❣
Late to the insecure party, binged the whole thing last year while I was off on mat leave. Love me some insecure and Issa Rae and hope she continues to create beautiful black content, because when done right she has proven it can appeal to everyone if that is your wish.