Prime Video’s Harlem is back, and as fans prepare to say goodbye to the beloved characters, the creators and actors behind them also go through the motions that come with bidding something near and dear to their hearts farewell.

When Tracy Oliver first set out to tell the story of four Black women in Harlem through the lens of characters Angie (Shoniqua Shandai), Camille (Meagan Good), Quinn (Grace Byers) and Tye (Jerrie Johnson), she had no idea that it would soon join the legacies of dynamic Black friendships shown on screen like Mara Brock Akil‘s Girlfriends and Yvette Lee Bowser’s Living Single.

“It is so surreal to me, and I had this moment, a couple months ago, where there’s a new Black woman writer who has gotten some traction, and I guess she messaged my assistant to say, ‘Is there any way I can read Tracy’s old Harlem pitch deck and look at her lookbook just to see how she sold it because I have an idea in the same vein, and I just want to study it,'” Oliver told Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “And I was so honored and flattered by that because I remember going to the Writer’s Guild and reading Shonda Rhimes’ material and just being like, ‘Oh my God, there’s a Black woman behind this big new show. This is crazy! And she made me feel like being a professional writer was possible.”

“And then, you know, studying Girlfriends and Mara Brock Akil’s work as well, and just being like, ‘OK, maybe I could do what she’s doing,'” she continued. “And so for writers in their 20s to look at me and be like, ‘I want to see Tracy Oliver’s work.’ I’m like, ‘Yo, that’s crazy.’ So that’s how I feel about it. It makes me smile. It makes me want to cry. I think it’s amazing.”

Similarly, the actors in the third and final season of Harlem said that having Tracy Oliver as their North Star, bringing their characters’ stories full circle, will live in their hearts forever. 

Does Angie finally get her big break?

“Angie’s purpose is so connected to the way that she views herself, but also making sure that the world is able to receive her,” Shoniqua Shandai said of her character’s arc in Harlem’s farewell season. “I think she has something that she really needs to say artistically. And I don’t know if her artistic purpose is completely manifested by the end of this season in the way that she needs to express it in all of her bits. … Tracy so brilliantly writes the solution in a way that you are. We grow. We get a beautiful closure, but it leaves room for more.”

She added, “So, I love this idea that I think there is more to be discovered, even in the way that we see Angie’s evolution.”

Will Quinn find her fairytale love?

Quinn’s evolution is evident from the premiere episode in this final chapter of Harlem. 

Viewers meet her on the other side of a decision to put herself first, which Grace Byers said is the foundation for the life we’ve seen her character want so desperately from the beginning.

“This is a moment she’s been waiting for, right? So when you find her in Season 1, you’re waiting for that moment for her to choose her future, choose her forever, choose her happily ever after,” Byers said. “And in Season 3, she really gets that moment, and she gets that moment at the end of Season 2, but she’s not in a space of her own, taking up space of her own identity yet, so it’s hard for her to accept that.”

She adds, “Now, in Season 3, where she’s like, “All right, I know who I am. I know what it is. I’ve been living here for a second.” Then, she gets met with that opportunity again. So I think this is the moment we’ve all been waiting for with Quinn. Now, how Quinn is going to navigate that? I think that’s going to be a real treat for people to see. I think that some people may agree, some people may disagree, but what’s most important is that Quinn is at peace.”

Will Tye ever learn to be vulnerable in her romantic partnerships?

Jerrie Johnson’s Tye Reynolds has run from commitment since Day 1. When we see her lose the one person she’s seemingly ready to settle down for at the end of the second season, viewers wonder if she can give her partners the same love she shares in her friendship with Quinn, Camille and Angie.

“The thing about meeting your match is that you have to be ready for it,” Johnson told Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “Your match is usually your mirror, and so Tye is looking in the mirror at things that otherwise she was able to ignore, whether it’s because, you know, her friends were where all the vulnerability happened. She didn’t reserve any of that for relationships, or if she was just trying to get quick fixes, and now she has to really contend with what she wants and how she can become the person that she needs to be in order to meet what she wants head-on.”

“Because of that, we will see Tye have more vulnerable moments where she’s contemplating more of the things that the audience has been questioning about her past and how she can heal those wounds and break the cycle that she’s been in for like a decade,” she concluded.

Is the drama between Camille and Ian finally over?

The real question that everyone wants to know is if characters Camille and Ian (Tyler Lepley) have finally closed the chapter on their tumultuous, on-again, off-again relationship that has left everyone (including most of their friends and family) ready to pull out their hair.

Viewers meet Camille on a new career journey as she begins writing a book. Her North Star is herself for the first time, Meagan Good said of her character.

“She definitely spent a lot of time thinking life was happening to her instead of for her, and asking advice here and there and everywhere, and, you know, looking up to people that would help kind of help her navigate, and definitely therapy and asking herself hard questions,” she said. “And I think now she’s still in a season of asking herself hard questions, but I think she’s realizing that she’s not going to get the answer from anywhere else except for inside. She has to decide who she is in this next season and what she wants. And you know, as her career is just changing and adjusting and things weren’t what she thought they were going to be, she’s realizing that only she has the answer for her.”

Admittedly, Good also revealed where the character Camille falls in the trajectory of all the roles she’s portrayed in her decades-long career.

“I will always carry Camille with me in my heart,” Good expressed. “She is one of, if not, my favorite character that I’ve ever played, and that goes to also, you know, I will always carry these women in my heart, not just the characters and the dynamic of the friendship on the show, but the real women in real life who are one in the same in their own ways. … That also goes for Tracy and people … who have come together to create this show and just everything about the experience.”

Will Ian finally fulfill his dream of becoming a dad?

As a father himself, Tyler Lepley is honored to portray a character like Ian who is genuinely invested in becoming a father, ultimately leading him to walk away from the love of his life at the end of Season 2 when Camille is honest about her take on motherhood.

“First of all, my hat’s off to our North Star, Tracy Oliver, for even just penning a character that’s like that,” said Lepley. “We don’t see it often, and to be able to showcase this Black man that wants to be a father, that wants to be present, wants to have it with the woman that he’s always been in love with, to really have that family unit like he’s used to having with his own family, is a beautiful thing to lend my voice to, and to be able to try to illustrate for everyone that may be watching, because there’s so many of us that are in that space, myself included, as Tyler in real life.”

He added, “Every one of my children was planned. I’ve always wanted to be a father, always wanted to have a big family, having my parents still be together after, I think they’ve been married for like 33 years now, and we’ve just always had a close-knit unit. Even now, they live out here in LA, so I’m still able to see them all the time. And they’re just a part of my immediate family as I’ve welcomed the next generation in. So all in all, from real life to the make believe, it’s just beautiful to see that.”

Can I stream the final season of ‘Harlem’ all at once?

No. For Harlem’s farewell season, the premiere episode is available to stream on Prime Video, and fans can tune in weekly on Thursdays until the sixth and final episode airs on the streamer.