INTERVIEW: Wendy Raquel Robinson Reveals Why Filming ‘The Game’ Reboot Was A ‘Learning Curve’
Wendy Raquel Robinson is back in action for The Game reboot, which is now available on Paramount+, and is spilling all of the details about the show, her fans and working with a new star-studded cast.
More than six years after the series finale, Robinson is returning in the revival, playing her character Tasha Mack, alongside her son on the show Malik Wright (Hosea Chanchez). Together, they relocate from San Diego to Las Vegas in hopes of tackling a new world inside professional football.
For the reboot, Vaughn Hebron, a former NFL running back with the Denver Broncos, will play Jamison Fields, an undrafted free agent. Adriyan Rae (Chicago Fire) will star as Brittany Pitts, the daughter of Jason and Kelly Pitts, and Analisa Velez (Monsterland) will play Raquel Navarro, Brittany’s best friend. Tim Daly (The Sixth Reel) will play Colonel Ulysses S. Thatcher, a self-made billionaire, and Toby Sandemann (Power Book III: Raising Kanan) will play Garret Evans, the top football player in the league.
“The first time we actually met, we had to hold hands and jump!,” Robinson tells BET.com. “We had a camera test that same day. We had a table read on Zoom and that was the first time we were all together.”
Robinson says that starting fresh with a new cast and crew for the show was as fun and exciting, as it was intimidating.
“I’m going to say that’s part of the learning curve, because I’ve been working with all different actors. But I am still coming from a Tasha Mack perspective so it's how do we rock the world with these new people? It’s been a challenge in some ways but it has been so gratifying in others. I’m not coming into the same old, same old but I'm coming into the same show but different and fresh.”
While viewers of The Game will be tuning in with their different levels of fandom for Robinson and the show, the actress welcomes her longtime fans as well as the newcomers.
“The fans, old and new, will appreciate the merging of this world because with the new cast, they’re bringing a new energy. They’re fun, it’s light, it’s sexy, it’s Vegas,” she adds. “I’m doing what Tasha Mack has been doing but she’s evolved. She’s on a plane, she’s still calling shots but in a different sector.”
The Game reboot comes right on time in a world where women of color are continuing to deal with societal issues no matter where they fall on the power scale. But to Robinson, the way the show chooses to discuss these themes is refreshing.
“I’m playing with the owners, toe to toe, and defining myself not only as a woman but as a Black woman. We’re tackling issues that are seamless and ageless. We do talk about ageism, sexism, racism, [and] about all of the -isms that are out there,” she says.
Adding, “It’s handled in such a way that old school, new school and in-between school can identify with it. I’m just hoping [the fans receive it] and we’ll be back for many more seasons to come.”
Tune into the new and fresh series of The Game streaming only on Paramount+.
