About Beyond the Gates
Beyond the Gates is an American television soap opera that premiered on CBS on February 24, 2025, marking the first new daytime soap opera to debut in the United States since Passions in 1999. Created by Michele Val Jean, the series is set in a leafy Maryland suburb just outside Washington, D.C., in one of the most affluent African-American counties in the nation.
The show centers on the Dupree family, described as "the very definition of Black royalty," a powerful and prestigious multi-generational family living in a posh gated community. The series airs weekdays from 2:00-3:00 PM ET on CBS, with streaming available via Paramount+. The ensemble cast includes Tamara Tunie, Karla Mosley, Daphnee Duplaix, Timon Kyle Durrett, and Clifton Davis, among others.
Ratings Success and Season 2 Renewal
In May 2025, CBS renewed Beyond the Gates for an additional season through the 2025-2026 daytime television season, citing the serial's continued ratings success. According to CBS, since its debut, Beyond the Gates has improved the time period by 48% in broadcast viewership compared to its predecessor, The Talk, and has performed competitively against direct competitor General Hospital.
The network's decision to greenlight a new soap opera reflected CEO George Cheeks' belief that there was "still an audience" for the genre. The show has proven ambitious in scope, with the series airing its 100th episode by July 29, 2025, and plans to produce 238 episodes during the 2025-2026 season.
Creative Vision and Cultural Impact
Creator Michele Val Jean explained the show's unique perspective in an interview with Entertainment Weekly: "We wanted to have a show on the air that spoke to a different side of the Black experience. Not the downtrodden, not the ghettoized. We wanted to show rich, Black people doing messy things." Executive producer Sheila Ducksworth called the green-lighting of the series "revolutionary."
Beyond the Gates has generated significant cultural interest through crossover appearances and expanded distribution. In July 2025, Bryton James from The Young and the Restless appeared in a crossover episode, while Gizelle Bryant and Wendy Osefo from The Real Housewives of Potomac have been announced as guest stars. The show has also expanded beyond CBS, with BET airing encores and Pluto TV launching a dedicated streaming channel in August 2025.