Destiny does not have an expiration date. The new hit soap opera, Beyond the Gates, “BTG” is daytime’s poster child for this undeniable truth. The show’s creator, showrunner, and executive producer, Michele Val Jean, and the show’s executive producer, Sheila Ducksworth, dreamed about spearheading a daytime soap opera led by a predominantly Black cast for over two decades before the actual manifestation. A delayed destiny is not a destiny denied.
It had been over 35 years since that had been done when Beyond the Gates debuted on CBS on February 24, 2025. And it had been 20 years since a new daytime soap had been launched on a major network.
On the most recent episode of Soapy, the podcast by Rebecca Budig and Greg Rikaart, Ducksworth is a guest. We love this clip from the episode. Let’s set it up.
Before “BTG,” the stars aligned and Ducksworth and Val Jean found themselves working on Ambitions, the multigenerational family drama that aired on Oprah Winfrey Network in 2019.
“I was leading “Ambitions” for Will Packer Media, and we shot that for OWN. It was really incredible because the showrunner and the creator of that show was also Jamey Giddens. Jamey was also friends with Michele. And he (Giddens) said to me, ‘I want to bring Michele on board,’ and I thought, that’s great… Michele came out. I was in Atlanta for a month at a time…It was really cool.”
Side note: We loved Ambitions!
Ducksworth went on to say.
“We were like, was this what we said that we were going to do 20 years ago? And we both said, ‘No, this isn’t it, this is one thing, but this isn’t the soap.’ So, yeah, that was one of those intermediary things, and it was very cool. Then we got the chance to do what we both really dreamed that we wanted to do.’
Destiny doesn’t have an expiration date. It has a fulfillment date. Purpose will ultimately fulfill its purpose. And the path to purpose isn’t always linear. As Ducksworth reminds us, it can have some “cool intermediary” stops along the way. Love that!
And in the fullest of full circle moments, Giddens is now on the writing team at Beyond the Gates!
Dreams do come true! Watch the exclusive clip below featuring Sheila Ducksworth. This new episode of Soapy will be released on Tuesday. (Photo: CBS.)
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