Netflix Renews ‘The Upshaws’ For Season 4 (Part 6)
The popular blue-collar sitcom The Upshaws, created by Regina Hicks and Wanda Sykes, will be returning for a fourth season on Netflix.
As reported by Deadline, the Mike Epps and Kim Fields-starring studio comedy has been renewed for a 10-episode fourth season, referred to as Part 6 by Netflix. This comes after the split release of Seasons 2 and 3, both of which were divided into two parts. The six-episode Part 5 (the second half of Season 3) is set to premiere in Spring 2024.
The show stars Epps as Bennie Upshaw, a well-meaning mechanic and patriarch of a working-class Black family in Indianapolis, which includes his wife, Regina (Fields), two young daughters, Aaliyah (Khali Spraggins) and Maya (Journey Christine), firstborn son Bennie Jr. (Jermelle Simon), the teenage son from another mother Kelvin (Diamond Lyons), and antagonistic sister-in-law Lucretia (Wanda Sykes).
Despite their conflicts, the Upshaws do their best to make things work. The upcoming Part 5 is expected to see the family continue to face ups and downs, including new jobs, bigger dreams, health complications, and some significant life surprises.
Lisa Rose/Netflix
In addition, the series features recurring guest stars Gabrielle Dennis as Kelvin’s mother, Tasha, Page Kennedy as Bennie’s old friend, Duck, Mike Estime as Bennie’s co-worker, Tony, Dayna Dooley as Regina’s boss, Sheila, Daria Johns as Aaliyah’s best friend, Savannah, Jessica Morris as Regina’s friend, Amy, Dewayne Perkins as Bennie Jr’s boyfriend, Hector, and Leonard Earl Howze as another of Bennie’s friends, Davis.
The Upshaws is a rare success story when it comes to multi-camera sitcoms in the streaming era. With its recently renewed fourth season, it now ties The Ranch for number of seasons for a Netflix studio comedy and is only one season behind Fuller House, which ran for five.
Back in August, Sykes spoke to the New Yorker about the sitcom and what led to her creating it.
“Mike Epps approached me and said he wanted to do, basically, a Black Roseanne. He wanted to do a show about a working-class Black family in the Midwest because that’s where he’s from — he’s from Indianapolis,” she explained.
“He was, like, You and I, we can have that Fred Sanford–Aunt Esther relationship. I thought about it, and I was, like, there really isn’t a show like that on right now,” she continued. “I mean, we had all those shows back in the day, and then in the eighties, you had middle-class families, Family Matters and all. But now it’s either crime families or they’re running big corporations.”
Sykes added, “So I was, like, this is a great idea. We both love Norman Lear, so it’d be great if we can do a Norman Lear-type show with this African American family. We took it to Netflix and, boom, they bought it.”
The Upshaws, Season 3 (Part 5), Premieres, Spring 2024, Netflix
