Couldn’t get enough of Matthew A. Cherry’s Oscar-winning animated short Hair Love? Well, you’re in luck! The 6-minute movie has been spun into a new Max original series called Young Love – which sees the return of Issa Rae.
Told over 12 episodes, the series focuses on the family – the Youngs – that was introduced in the beloved short. Rae plays the matriarch, Angela Young, with Kid Cudi as her husband, Stephen Love, and fresh face Brooke Monroe Conaway as their daughter, Zuri Young Love.
The short explores the moments leading up to Angela being brought home after a battle with cancer. To prepare for the homecoming, Zuri wants her father to do her hair, and he struggles to tame her textured curls. After a disastrous first attempt, he and Zuri watch a tutorial that Angela, who works as a hair stylist, made with her daughter.
Together, the father-and-daughter duo are able to whip up a stylish hairdo for Zuri to show off to her mother.
When they arrive at the hospital, Angela expresses her lack of confidence in her hair loss until her daughter shows her an image that she drew, which depicts her smiling with a crown on top of her bald head.
As assumed by its award recognition, the short impressively conveyed a myriad of emotions in its brief run-time and was well-received by audiences who relished in its representation of Black families and fatherhood at large. That said, Young Love does the exact same: the series poses new challenges for all in the family with Angela struggling with being treated differently as she returns to work and her daily grind; Stephen struggling to make it as a music producer; and Zuri readjusting to having two parents at home and dealing with normal kid stuff.
It is a joy to watch Cherry expand the Hair Love universe into something that’s bigger and better than its source material – which says a lot given its Oscar gold. The series will be released over three weeks, with four episodes released each week. The animated show stays true to its material and further explores different social issues and dynamics through the lens of a Black family.
Who knows, maybe the award buzz will continue and Cherry will nab himself an Emmy as well.