'Living Single' Star Speaks out on Revival Hopes

This year marks 30 years since the premiere of Living Single. The show followed Khadijah James (Queen Latifah), Maxine Shaw (Erika Alexander), Regine Hunter (Kim Fields), Synclaire James (Kim Coles), Overton Wakefield Jones (John Henton), and Kyle Barker (T.C. Carson) as 20-something professionals living and working in New York City in the 90s who's friendships carried them through. With so many reboots of iconic '90s shows, fans have begged for a revitalized version of the show. But none have transpired. In a recent chat with PEOPLE, Alexander spoke on revival hopes.

"We'll see," she said. Though Alexander is no longer in daily contact with her co-stars, they keep in touch via "a big group text," she says. "It's changed. We didn't have one for years, and then suddenly someone made it." There have been conversations about a reboot over the years between them. "There was a little bit of talk, for sure," says Alexander, though she admits she was hesitant to do the show again to preserve its legacy.

"I'm very identified with that show. The minute I put on those braids, especially," she explained. "I haven't yet aged out of that face. I didn't know if I wanted to do it, because I thought I'm not going to be able to transcend it. I'm a person who would love to do it. I'm not trying to push it away. I had to look at my career and say, had it been more successful in different spaces than I might embrace it more. And yet I've even grown past that [thinking] a bit, so we'll see. I always thought it'd be great animated. Everybody has such unique voices."

Alexander went on to star as Barb in two seasons of the STARZ sitcom Run the World, which took the Living Single formula and modernized it for a millennial show about four 30-something-aged Black women who are navigating love, career, and every type of relationship. Barb is their older friend who offers wisdom and resources. When asked by PopCulture.com why shows that focus on friendships among Black women work, Alexander said it contains magical ingredients. 

Alexander explained: "When you started to ask me that, I started thinking about the harmony that women have when they bring their voices together. If you think about it in the 50s, and there's a lot of harmony, but the thing that comes to mind is, "He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of Company B." And somebody goes, "He's the boogie woogie bugle boy of..." You need the base, you need the middle, you need the high, you need somebody...That makes an amazing sound. And then when you put them together in terms of personality, you have a harmony that feels like one note but is many different layers. And I think that that's why people love to see series with ensemble companies. And that's what this is."