Following the airing of Season 3 Episode 5 of Hulu’s Reasonable Doubt, I spoke to Brandee Evans, who plays Monica, for an exclusive conversation.

Known and loved for her starring role as Mercedes Woodbine on the Starz series P-Valley, Evans also found herself a longtime fan of Reasonable Doubt, so much so that she even signed a Change.org petition demanding the show’s renewal. She soon found herself cast in the series as Monica, a recurring character who is part of the show’s major case this season. The series was created by Raamla Mohamed and stars Emayatzy Corinealdi as Jax Stewart, a corporate criminal defense lawyer navigating challenging high-profile cases.

Evans commented, “The storyline is so important. It’s much deeper, I think people are starting to realize, than they thought it was going to be. So I’m glad that I’m able to tell the story and make us aware of what’s happening to our children at a young age… I think that we talk about our girls a lot and a lot of times we just gloss over what’s happening with our baby boys. So I am glad that I’m able to tell such a difficult story, and such an important one.”

Reflecting on how she prepared for the role, Evans said, “I always tell people this is the hardest role I’ve ever played. They assume it’s Mercedes, but locking into this character of Monica has been the hardest thing of my life. Especially episode 6 when you see that. I had to not judge the character and think about what would make it make sense for her. I did research. I asked a lot of men whether they’ve had situations that happened in that show. And of course, I worked with an acting coach to lock in and really hone in on that character.”

When asked about the experience on set, Evans couldn’t say enough good things, commenting “Raamla Mohamed creates such a safe space. There was always a therapist on set to make sure we were okay when filming difficult situations. And having an all Black writers room was very important because we are telling Black stories. She made sure we had Black writers at the forefront as well as Black directors.”

Looking ahead to what’s next, Evans can’t wait for fans to finally see P-Valley season three, which has been filmed but has not yet announced a release date. She also hopes to do more comedy in the future, especially a rom-com with her dream co-stars Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell.

Season three of Reasonable Doubt continues every Thursday with episodes released on Hulu.