Marsai Martin is bringing #BlackGirlmagic to the Disney Channel with her new show “Saturdays.”
On Thursday (March 11), the “Black-ish” actress took to Twitter to announce that the show has been given the green light for a pilot episode. According to Deadline, “Saturdays” will “follow Paris, who, since the age of four, has been honing her skills on the cool parquet floor of Saturdays, a local skating rink owned and operated by a former 90s hip hop back-up dancer. Paris is the leader of a skate crew and is determined to take them all the way to the top. However, she has sickle cell disease, and when it flares up, it’ll take every ounce of determination to prove the doubters wrong, including her concerned family.”
After Martin revealed images of who will lead her show, Twitter praised her for choosing dark-skinned actresses to play the roles and for highlighting sickle cell anemia, a disease that heavily affects the Black community.
“LOOK AT THAT CASTING!!!” tweeted @SadeGabriella. “It’s so refreshing to see Black girls who are monoracial and dark-skinned as the lead actresses. I love this so much omg. Congrats, Marsai!!! Can’t wait to watch this!!”
Twitter user @RheaMorris_ wrote, “Sickle cell, oh wow. This is gonna be such a beautiful way to teach young children about something that’s really affected the Black community for so long and still goes very much unrecognized. Thank you!”
“Seeing all these beautiful brown-skinned girls next to each other in a Hollywood announcement made me cry,” tweeted @karenobilom. “Thank you for doing what most in this industry are too small-minded to do @marsaimartin. I can’t WAIT to tune in.”
Twitter user @ChestinCurl wrote, “I am so excited! For @marsaimartin and for the representation…and of course, the 90s skate vibes. My daughter can see her future in roles like these! #BlackGirlMagic.”