Showtime has renewed The Chi, created by Lena Waithe, for a sixth season. The pickup comes a couple weeks ahead of the show’s season five finale, which will hit its streaming platforms on Sept. 2 and debut on air Sept. 4.
The Chicago-set drama, produced entirely in the Windy City by 20th Television, follows a group of South Side residents linked by coincidence but bonded by the need for connection and redemption. The current season focuses on the joys and trials of Black love, examining relationships, parenting and community.
The Chi is Showtime’s second-longest-running current series behind Billions (which has completed six seasons and been renewed for a seventh). The ViacomCBS outlet says The Chi’s streaming audience, which makes up a large majority of its total viewership, has grown by more than 20 percent over last season, though as is usually the case with streaming data, Showtime is keeping concrete numbers private. Season four of the series averaged 4.2 million weekly viewers across all platforms, Showtime said, with the first on-air run making up less than 10 percent of that total.
Jacob Latimore, Alex Hibbert, Yolonda Ross, Shamon Brown Jr., Michael V. Epps, Birgundi Baker, Luke James and Curtiss Cook star in the series. Guest stars for season five include Kandi Burruss, La La Anthony, Jason Weaver, Steven Williams, Rolando Boyce, Iman Shumpert, Nia Jervier, Carolyn Michelle Smith, L’lerrét Jazelle and Antonyah Allen.
Waithe executive produces The Chi via her Hillman Grad Productions. Rapper Common is also an exec producer, along with Aaron Kaplan, Rick Famuyiwa, ID8 Multimedia’s Derek Dudley and Shelby Stone, Hillman Grad CEO Rishi Rajani, Jewel Coronel and showrunner Justin Hillian.
