HBO Series Loses Key Cast Member Ahead of New Season

By Daniel S. Levine

The Emmy-winning HBO comedy series A Black Lady Sketch Show recently started work on its fourth season but will be without one of its longtime stars. Ashley Nicole Black, who has been a major part of the series since it started, is not returning for Season 4. However, three new stars are joining the show.

Black played the recurring characters Trinity the invisible spy and the disciplette Ruth in "The Last Supp-her" and "The Res-herrection" sketches. She is also a writer and executive producer on Apple TV+'s hit Ted Lasso, which earned her an Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy this year. Black also won an Emmy in 2017 for her work on the Full Frontal with Samantha Bee special "Not the White House Correspondents' Dinner." Black will also star in Apple TV+'s upcoming Bad Monkey.

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(Photo: HBO)

"We are forever indebted to our sister, Emmy-winner Ashley Nicole Black, whose contributions as a writer and performer on A Black Lady Sketch Show for three seasons have made an indelible mark on our series and in comedy history," creator Robin Thede said in a statement to Variety. "She will always be a part of our family and we are rooting for her as she continues on her path of greatness."

Black later took to Twitter to wish her former colleagues the best. "I am so happy that the fantastic [A Black Lady Sketch Show] team will be back for a new season," she tweeted. "I love these ladies and the whole team, and I can't wait to see what the new cuties get up to! While I made the difficult decision to leave the show, I CANT WAIT to watch what they come up with!"

The new cast members are DaMya Gurley, Tamara Jade, and Angel Laketa Moore. Thede billed the trio as the "absolute bellwether for the next generation of comedians" and promised they will "surprise and delight" the audience with their versatility. Moore recently starred on Atypical and United States of Al, while Jade is a singer who competed on The Voice. Gurley is an up-and-coming actor who won the national August Wilson Monologue Competition and found success on TikTok with her comedy sketches.

A Black Lady Sketch Show won Emmys this year for Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming and Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series, both for the episode "Save My Edges, I'm a Donor!" Last year, the show won an Emmy for Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming for "Sister, May I Call You Oshun?" HBO has not set a premiere date for Season 4, but the first three seasons are available to stream on HBO Max.

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