Image via FX
Snowfall is coming to an end.
The sixth and final season of the beloved FX series has arrived and fans will finally get to see what the future holds for Franklin Saint and his crew. Not only did the show make Damson Idris a star, but it also ushered in a new wave of talent that has become the heart of the show.
Angela Lewis’ role as Aunt Louie on Snowfall was her first series regular gig on a TV show. And in the course of five seasons, Lewis’ character has served as a strong, supportive, and astute female presence on an otherwise male-centered show. Snowfall has chronicled the beginnings of the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles in the 1980s, and through the seasons, it has focused more and more on Franklin, who was a young street entrepreneur that eventually became a leader in the game with the help of his team and CIA operative Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson).
Louie has been holding it down for the Saint family since day one, helping them establish and grow their drug empire, and has been one of Franklin’s main guides as he climbed up the ranks and transformed from a boy into a giant in the business. She is now married to his Uncle Jerome (Amin Joseph) and has treated Franklin like a nephew from the start. Unlike his mother Cissy (Michael Hyatt) who was not supportive of his drug empire, Louie served as a maternal figure who showed him the ropes on how to run his business and the streets. But in later seasons, tensions grew between the two as Franklin got more powerful and more detached from the people who helped him build his success. Louie also proved to be a force on her own and eventually became his adversary.
“There was so much love there. Louie has known Franklin for a long time. She met Franklin when he was just a young boy,” Lewis tells Complex. “Over the course of time, he couldn’t see her value and he couldn’t give her what she needed for her to feel successful, for her to feel valued, that was really disappointing for her and kind of sad.”
Season 5 ended with the two at odds, with Jerome and Louie breaking away from Franklin and running their own operation. Both Franklin and the show’s fans saw this as a betrayal of sorts, and Lewis says she has received hate mail on social media. “Someone threatened to punch me in the face once,” she said. Season 6 picks up with them still figuring out where they stand with each other, within their family and in the drug world, and we will know in the end, who comes out victorious.
Lewis hopped on a call with Complex ahead of the new season’s premiere for a long chat about Snowfall coming to an end, fans misunderstanding Aunt Louie, working with Damson Idris, and the lasting impact she thinks the John Singleton co-created series will leave on television.
I know you are still filming the last season now. How are you feeling about it?
Yes, we are. A little bit more to go, and then that’s it. So crazy. I’m so excited. It’s a wild, wild ride, like always, but even more so totally intensified and exponentially wilder. It’s crazy.
What’s the vibe like on set?
It doesn’t feel sad until it’s time to say goodbye. Knowing that on any given day you could be working with somebody on their last day, and then there’s the whole speech at the end, and that gets really sad, or the table reads. But when we first get together while we’re shooting, it’s as fun as ever.
The show has had such an impact on the culture, and people really, really gravitated toward it. Can you talk a little bit about how it has impacted you and your career and your life in general?
Yeah. It’s completely changed my life. This is my first series regular role, and so it’s changed things in many ways. It’s empowered me, it’s helped me see that when I come to work, when I’m on set, my voice is valuable, my presence in the space is valuable. I wouldn’t be there if I didn’t deserve to be there, so I need to show up like I belong. Because if I don’t, if I don’t ask my questions, if I don’t make my voice heard, if I don’t contribute to the creative pot, then there’s a big space missing. There’s a gap there. People need me to show up as much as I need everybody else to show up in order for the whole thing to work, because it’s so collaborative.
Prior to this, I was working in New York for 13 years as a bartender and a cocktail waitress, and then I moved to LA. For whatever reason, I couldn’t get a job as a bartender and a cocktail waitress, so I was working for two years as a receptionist at a gym and I was babysitting. To make that transition from having those side jobs and struggling and all of that to being in a situation where finally the thing that I’ve been wanting to do my entire life, I can support myself and I can start a family. And I can support my family just doing what I love to do has been huge.
Then personally, Louie has really changed me in that I can’t be afraid as Louie. She is not a fearful individual, and it’s impossible to play her being afraid of anything—afraid if you’re doing it right, afraid if you’re doing it wrong, afraid of how you might look when you’re holding the gun, or afraid of whatever it is that the fears are, and there are so many. I can’t have that fear and simultaneously play her.
For sure.
I’ve had to leave a lot of those things behind. When we wrap at the end of the day, some of those fears I pick up again and take them home. And that’s OK; you’re always growing and working through things. But she’s certainly taught me to stand in my power and to not just stand there, but to walk there, to be, to live fully in my power. I am forever grateful for that.
Snowfall is such a male-centered show, but Louie adds not only the vulnerable side of her, but also shows how as a woman you can stand firm and have these connections to these men as leaders, and be able to lead them. What aspect of playing Louie are you taking with you now that it’s over?
That’s probably the biggest thing. You must stand up and you must lead, otherwise, you get run over. It’s so interesting to me, the audience’s response; not everybody, but a lot of people, and how they are responding to Louie being a leader and taking control over her life. I think of Louie as a person who historically in her life had always been told no. She didn’t have anybody to encourage her. She didn’t have anybody to say, “Yes, you can do this. You can be this. You can see this. This is a possibility for what you can do.” She was always told no, and she’s a survivor. When she saw the opportunity in Franklin’s opportunity, she took it and ran with it.
She is good at what she does. She’s super smart and strategic, and she knows people. She was such a huge help in Franklin becoming who he was, and as Franklin rose through the ranks, so did Louie. Unfortunately, Franklin couldn’t see her value, or he didn’t want to see her value, and Louie, in spite of that, was able to see her own value. She had a vision for herself, and she felt like, “Well, if he can’t see me, then I have to find a way to get out from under his shadow.” That’s exactly what she did, and it never ceases to amaze me how many people are so angry at her for not allowing someone to dim her light, for her being able to have big dreams and to follow those dreams in spite of not wanting to be valued.
With Louie and Franklin, there’s a bit of a clash of egos. We saw in that scene where he points a gun at her, you never would think that he would do something like that. Can you talk about the Franklin and Louie relationship, and how it has evolved throughout the seasons?
Yeah, it’s a sad situation. There was so much love there. Louie has known Franklin for a long time. She met Franklin when he was just a young boy. She really does think of him as a nephew, and really does love him. Over the course of his life, she’s probably guided him in various ways to keep himself alive. Streetwise, Louie’s pretty with it, so this wasn’t the first time that she pointed him in the right direction. She definitely looks at herself as a maternal figure in his life.
Over the course of time, after he couldn’t see her value and he couldn’t give her what she needed for her to feel successful, for her to feel valued, that was really disappointing for her and kind of sad. After getting shot and almost dying, it’s like, “No, I got to make a move that’s different from this.” The moment when he pulls his gun on her, I do think she was extremely hurt, surprised, and pissed off. That sealed the deal, like, “Oh no, this is not family, and now whatever ties have been severed. This is the end. You are not who you used to be, and I’m not who I used to be, so this relationship is over.” Now the question is, can they heal things? I don’t think they can ever be the same, but can they forge some situation where they can be allies again? We’ll see. But in that moment, it definitely was the end for her.
If Franklin has his sights set on leaving the drug game behind, you would think that he would be supportive to let Louie be his successor. But it seems like he almost feels betrayed that Louie wants to do her own thing.
My take on it is that it’s not that he feels, well, he probably does feel betrayed, and a lot of people say Louie went behind his back. But from my perspective, I feel like she went over his head, and that’s the thing that upsets him the most. She outsmarted him, she did the thing that he never thought she would do, and this is like, “But of course I did.” She has built a relationship with Teddy over the years, and why shouldn’t she?
For sure. Can you talk about collaborating with Damson on that and what it’s been like to work alongside him in Snowfall?
Yeah. Dam is amazing. He brings all of himself to the scene. He’s super creative and collaborative, and he’s also very silly, so we have a good time on set, and it’s been really, really a privilege to not only witness his brilliance, but also be a part of it, and to support that and to watch him and learn and grow from him as well. We all watch and learn and grow from each other, because there are so many beautiful and amazing talents in our cast that if we aren’t taking notes on each other, shame on us. So, it’s been an amazing pleasure to work alongside him. I hope we get to do it again in a different capacity.
Can you talk a little bit about that wedding episode? That felt like a fever dream almost to watch. How was it to film that?
It was so fun. There were so many moving parts that it also demanded a lot of focus. Because we were all high, one might think you can just let it all go to the wind, but you can’t, actually. You’ve got to make sure you’re grounded in the truth that they’re experiencing, and then let that truth manifest in maybe some wild ways, but it always has to be grounded in truth. That’s the challenging part, and that’s the part that you can’t forget. It was an exciting challenge and a lot of fun to play and to be caught up in the moment and make these really bold choices that amplify and highlight what our characters were really feeling. It was really an incredible thing, and Katrelle Kindred did an amazing job directing.
Can you talk about where Snowfall falls within these television shows that are tackling the drug world and all those topics, but also mental health, family, and other things that are happening?
Yeah. We talk a lot about the greats: The Sopranos, The Wire, and even Ozark. How can we not? We would be doing ourselves a disservice if we didn’t include those shows in our conversations. You always take from the greats. I like to think that at some point, either in some of those shows or in the future, some shows will be talking about Snowfall and pulling from the things that we did.
It is an interesting dynamic to be involved in storytelling where there’s a lot of conversation around, and the visual impact of the community in which you belong is killing each other, is destroying the community with or without the—well, there is no without—but even with the direct influence from the government and their participation in that destruction, there’s still an individual choice. It is a very traumatic experience that Black people have in this country and in the inner cities, so to be a part of the storytelling, the reenacting, the revisualizing of that trauma, it can weigh heavy on the soul.
I’m grateful though that in that telling, we’re not just out for trauma porn. We’re not just willy-nilly nearly throwing these images out. We’re telling this story for a reason, and we’re hoping that our audience is not only listening to the retelling of history more accurately, but also picking up on some of the subtle, more nuanced things that we’re talking about, even though we’re not always hitting people over the head with, “Message, message” that people are really listening and really paying attention to the story that we’re telling.
Snowfall also shows the mental effects and the internal consequences of being part of this life. They are on top of the world with this business, but at what expense? Can you talk a little bit about playing that human aspect of the story on the show?
It’s so important that our characters deal with the consequences of their actions and their choices. When Louie was shot, it really was the first time. She is a survivor, and the fact that she very nearly did not survive this, and not only was it because of choices that she made, but it was because of choices that somebody else made. She told Franklin, “Don’t do this,” or “do this a certain way.” He didn’t listen, and because of that, now here I am bleeding out on the ground.
What does that mean? And if I survive this, how do I make different choices? How do I move forward? What am I going to do? Am I going to stay in this game or not? Am I going to stay working for Franklin, who is endangering my life in a very tangible way now? Before that moment, everything was in theory. They all know that they could die at any moment but in theory. When you have a certain amount of ego, confidence, a certain amount of feeling like it’s not going to happen to me, it allows you to move forward, which I think that’s important in there.
That’s important in any job. It’s important as an actor to feel like, “Against all odds, I can do this.” Because if you don’t have that, then you don’t ever push; you give up, or you get eaten up by the rejection or all the things that come with rejection. So, I think to a certain degree that amount of confidence is important, but when there’s actually a bullet that has penetrated your body, and you’re bleeding and losing your feeling and getting cold and losing your life, that’s a wake-up call.
What are you hoping that fans get to see from Louie in this final season?
I hope that they will really watch the story, and not just from the vantage point of being a fan of Franklin, but really watch Franklin.
He moves a little funny sometimes.
Sometimes? I think if Louie did half of the shady things that Franklin did, I would get worse DMs than I get now.
Do you get a lot?
Oh my God. People are like, “I kind of hate you right now.” Someone threatened to punch me in the face once. I was like, “This is crazy.” They really are not happy with Louie, but I think even in last season, Franklin snitched on Louie, and I’m like, “In what world is that okay?”
But nobody sent you any apologies, I’m sure.
No, no they didn’t. Nobody said, “You know what? I used to love Franklin, but he snitched on you, so I’m coming over to Team Louie.” No one said that. So, I really hope that people really pay attention to the shenanigans that Franklin is up to. Aside from that, I hope that people can see Louie as a full human being and find a way to see her, to really see her.
What are your hopes for the future in terms of having more Black leads on television, and seeing these shows on TV, and being able to tell different stories in this way?
I hope that we continue to evolve. There are so many more stories to tell and so many more ways in which Black characters can be at the forefront of telling those stories. All stories. All-Black casts, mostly Black casts, not really any, and one or two as the lead. And not just Black actors and characters, just the world is so diverse.
We’ve come so far, but there’s so far to go. I do believe we’re moving in the right direction, however slowly, but I just hope that we don’t give up the fight, we don’t give up the push. There are so many stories to tell, and when those stories are blocked, or a particular actor is prevented from telling a particular story because of the color of their skin, it just really is a disservice to humanity.
For sure.
We miss out on a certain brilliance, on a certain genius. So, I hope we wake up faster and continue to be able to shed light just on humanity because that’s essentially what we’re doing. Telling stories is about shedding light on different aspects of humanity, and why would we block ourselves from that? To tell the stories, to tell them accurately, and to have multiple experiences in a writer’s room. If everybody in the room has the same experience, that’s so wack.
Can you talk a little bit about what you’re looking forward to doing, or anything that you’re working on after Snowfall?
When people ask me that question, I get so nervous because I have a general but very specific vision for myself, and I feel like when I start talking about what character I want to play next or what project I want to be involved in next, it feels like I’m limiting myself. I really like to keep things open so that the thing that I never would have expected can make its way to me faster, you know? Having said that, there are some things that are on the horizon that are very exciting that I can’t talk about just yet, and I can’t wait to be able to talk about them. Life is expanding, and I’m really, really excited about the opportunities that are coming my way.