OWN Announces Cast for New Drama ‘If Loving You Is Wrong’

Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry are hoping to strike television gold once again as they collaborate on a new primetime drama, If Loving You is Wrong.

If Loving You Is Wrong is based on Perry’s 2014 film, The Single Moms Club, which starred Nia Long, Amy Smart, Coca Brown, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Zulay Henao. If Loving You is Wrong centers around a group of families in the same neighborhood (think Wisteria Lane 2.0). They are friends, neighbors and sometimes rivals but they all have their private struggles.

Amanda Clayton (John Carter) plays Alex while her husband, Brad is played by All My Children alum Aiden Turner. From the outside, Alex and Brad appear to have the picture perfect life as they raise their two children, but not all is as it appears. A secret threatens to derail their marriage.

Another neighbor, Marcie played by Heather Hemmons (Hellcats) is married to Randal, played by Eltony Williams (24). Their marital struggles focus on infertility issues, as Marcie is unable to have children.

Zulay Henao reprises her role from the film as Esperanza. A single mother to an eight year old child, she worries what ex-husband Edward, played by Joel Rush (Days of our Lives), will do when he finds out about her new beau, Julius, played by Octavio Pizano (East Los High).

Edwina Findley (Treme) plays Kelly, a woman whose boyfriend, and father to her young son, has been away on a relief mission in Haiti for a year. April Parker-Jones (Jericho) plays Natalie, a struggling single mother of four with three children at home and one adult son in prison. She is the mother of four children, one in prison. Living paycheck to paycheck, she’s barely able to keep her household going. On top of that, she has to content with former lover Lushion, played by Charles Malik Whitfield (Law and Order), who tries to love her while taking care of their son, Frank.

If Loving You is Wrong is OWN’s second primetime drama series from Tyler Perry.  The network’s first drama series from Perry, The Haves and the Have Nots (Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET), written and produced by Perry, returned with new episodes on May 27 to over three million total viewers, becoming the network’s highest season premiere in history.  Additionally, popular comedy series Love Thy Neighbor from Tyler Perry, Wednesday night’s #1 original cable series for African-American W25-54 and total viewers in Q1 2014, will return with new episodes on Wednesday, June 25 at 9 p.m. ET.

At the rate that Perry and Winfrey are going, they’re sure to have another hit on their hands.

Trish Mahon is a contributing writer to TVSource Magazine. She served as assistant news editor of Soap Opera Source from 2008 – 2010.