'Dreaming Whilst Black' Season 1 Recap, Season 2 Premiere Date, & CBS Series Renewal News
Get ready for a full 2026-2027 season as CBS and Paramount+ prepare to take over your weeknights
Dreaming Whilst Black is the indie filmmaker reality check we rarely see on TV, and it’s good
SHOWTIME’s BBC comedy arrived quietly in 2023 with its six half-hour episodes in Season 1, but left behind something loud: a brutally honest portrayal of ambition and integrity colliding with reality inside the film industry—especially when you don’t come from money, nepotism, or proximity to power.
Created by and starring Adjani Salmon, the series follows Kwabena, an aspiring filmmaker with a deeply personal script rooted in his Jamaican heritage and the cultural hybridity of growing up Jamaican in the UK. His family—an interwoven blend of Jamaican and Nigerian immigrants—believes in him, worries about him, and at times questions him. His friends range from unwavering supporters to necessary realists. And the industry? The industry demands something else entirely.
Season 1: When “making it” comes at a cost
At the core of Season 1 is a tension many indie filmmakers know too well:
wanting to tell your story
needing to just tell a story to kickstart your career
and being judged for compromise before given the opportunity to develop and evolve
Kwabena’s journey hits its emotional peak when a former film classmate—now with a feature under his belt—challenges him to stop talking about filmmaking and actually make something. The result is a pivot: Kwabena shelves his passion project in favor of a film that’s more feasible given his access and resources.
The film lands him an agent. On paper, it’s a win.
But to his family, it feels like a betrayal—trading authenticity for industry approval by telling a story of incarceration instead of one of celebration. The finale leaves Kwabena suspended between celebration and guilt, success and disappointment.
And that’s what makes the show sting in the best way.
What Dreaming Whilst Black captures so well is the unglamorous reality of indie filmmaking:
day jobs that you hate to fund your passion
unpaid/volunteer cast and crew giving their time, equipment, and energy because of the love of the industry
friends and family on the outside not understanding the sacrifice
quiet shame from being called a “sellout” when you’re just trying to do what you need to do in order to do what you want to do
For Kwabena, it isn’t selling out—it’s strategy.
So why does it feel so bad?
Season 2: The dream gets bigger—and messier
On January 21, Paramount+ announced that Season 2 of Dreaming Whilst Black will premiere Friday, February 20, streaming weekly and airing the same day on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. PT.
According to the official press release:
“In Season 2, Kwabena is finally on the brink of his first major directing opportunity when he’s offered the chance to helm a radical, “color-blind” historical drama. What initially feels like a dream come true reveals itself to be more complicated.
And complicated it is.
Season 2 looks poised to interrogate a new layer of pressure: visibility.
In a world where everyone is connected, everyone also believes they’re a critic. From couches and office chairs, opinions fly about what a filmmaker should’ve or could’ve done, or what they would’ve done—without any of the risk, labor, or consequence.
This is where Dreaming Whilst Black thrives: exposing the microaggressions, gatekeeping, and emotional tax Kwabena endures just to be seen once—while still wrapping it all in hilariously sharp satire that knows when to laugh with the pain instead of at it.
The ensemble cast —including Dani Moseley, Denny Ladipo, Rachel Adedeji, Babirye Bukilwa, Roger Griffiths, Jo Martin, Martina Laird, and Kemi Adekoya—grounds the series in warmth, laughter, frustration, and truth.
It is, quite simply, too honest and too hilarious not to watch.
CBS & Paramount+ Are Building Momentum for 2026-2027
The good news didn’t stop with Dreaming Whilst Black.
On January 22, CBS announced its 2026-2027 broadcast season renewals, signaling confidence across both legacy hits and newer standouts:
Renewed Series
Tracker
Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage
Matlock
Elsbeth
Fire Country
NCIS
NCIS: Sydney
Survivor
The Amazing Race
Previously Ordered for 2026-2027
Boston Blue
Sheriff Country
FBI
Ghosts
Cupertino
Einstein
If you haven’t neem paying attention to what CBS and Paramount+ are lining up, consider this your invitation. The slate is expanding—and they’re just getting started.
Stream Dreaming Whilst Black and all your favorite CBS favorites on Paramount+. Check out the trailer below.
© Kivonshe | So There’s That Podcast
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