‘Lessons in Chemistry’: Aja Naomi King Says Harriet Sloane Is a ‘Force of Nature’ (Exclusive)

Lessons in Chemistry was a big success for Apple TV+ as it earned an 84 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes and received multiple award nominations. Aja Naomi King, who plays Harriet Sloane on the show, earned a Critics Choice Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television. PopCulture.com spoke to King about Lessons in Chemistry and why she loves her character.

“She is a force of nature. I am so grateful for this woman,” King told PopCulture. “I’m so grateful for the way that we have been able to craft this character because she’s such a force. And we took quite a departure from the book in creating her and the team. Everyone was so game to tell this story of how this neighborhood was decimated by the freeway coming through. Well, I guess, it was more so about telling the story about how this neighborhood came together to fight against that decimation. And she’s just so powerful. She’s so wonderful. And I just love that we see her life.”

Harriet is Elizabeth Zott’s (Brie Larson) close friend and helps her anytime she needs guidance. As intelligent as Elizabeth is, Harriet helped her grow as a person because of her life and the parenting advice she gave to her. However, Harriet faced challenges she had to endure, specifically fighting the city to stop the Santa Monica Freeway from being built through Sugar Hill. 

“She’s not a prop,” King continued. “She’s not just there on the side. We see her family, her husband. We understand what her struggles are, what her joys are. She’s this beautiful human being who is passionately gathering the people around her in her life saying like, ‘This is the community that we are creating, and this is how we are going to live and support and honor one another.’”

Harriet and Elizabeth had great chemistry (no pun intended) on screen. A reason for that could be how much King enjoyed working with Larson. “So wonderful. Brie is just so lovely and so kind, and a really generous actor,” King explained. “The kind of person that leans in and is just like, ‘How do you feel about this? Are you comfortable? Does this feel right for you?’  And I feel like that was also part of her putting her producer hat on and wanting to make sure that everything we were doing felt sincere and was rooted and grounded in what the reality of this Black family would be. And I just always really appreciated how much she wanted to check-in. And she was just advocating for everyone on set because she wanted us to all own this.”