Lynn Whitfield Promoted to Series Regular for Season 7

EXCLUSIVE: Lynn Whitfield will have an expanded role in The Chi moving forward, as the actress has been upped from guest star to series regular for Season 7.

Whitfield stars as Alicia, an intimidating, fearless and powerful matriarch who is laser-focused on avenging her brother’s murder. Last season, she squared off with rival villain Douda (Curtiss Cook), ultimately losing her son (guest star Iman Shumpert) to gun violence in the process.

Season 6 wrapped in June and set a new record for the series as the most-streamed season The Chi has ever seen, Deadline can also reveal exclusively, meaning that the season held onto momentum that began when the second half premiered in May.

The May 12 episode scored nearly 2M viewers across platforms in its first seven days, up 4% versus the last premiere episode (for the first half of Season 6).

The Chi is created and executive produced by Lena Waithe under her Hillman Grad banner and executive produced by Common. The series is a coming-of-age story centering on a group of residents on the South Side of Chicago who become linked by coincidence but bonded by the need for connection and redemption.

Along with Waithe and Common, the series is executive produced by Aaron Kaplan ( A Million Little Things, The Neighborhood ), Rick Famuyiwa ( Dope ), Derek Dudley and Shelby Stone of ID8 Multimedia, and Rishi Rajani, CEO of Hillman Grad.

Executive Producers Justin Hillian and Jewel Coronel are co-showrunners, and Naomi Funabashi, who oversees for Hillman Grad, and Resheida Brady are Executive Producers for Season 7. Produced entirely in its namesake city, The Chi is produced by 20th Television.