The Game Is On at Paramount+, Wendy Raquel Robinson and Hosea Chanchez Will Reprise Their Roles

As The Game’s very own Tasha Mack says… “Pow Pow Pow!” Fans, get your Super Bowl snacks ready because The Game has been revived!

The series, created by Mara Brock Akil in 2006 as a spinoff to Girlfriends, has been picked up by Paramount+, ViacomCBS announced on Thursday. Plus, fans of the show will be happy to know that Wendy Raquel Robinson (who portrayed Tasha, the footballer mama/sports agent) and Hosea Chanchez (who portrayed football star Malik Wright) will be reprising their roles. That’s not even all, though! Apparently, “several other legacy cast members” will appear in the series as well…we may have to wait to be surprised by those particular reveals, but we’ll see!

Here’s the scoop about the reprisal, via the official press release sent to The Root:

The half-hour series will be executive produced by original show creator Mara Brock Akil, showrunner and writer Devon Greggory (American Soul), Salim Akil (Black Lightning), and original executive producer Kelsey Grammer (Girlfriends) and Tom Russo (Black-ish) of Grammnet NH Productions. The 10-episode first season of the new series will be produced by CBS Studios, Akil Productions and Grammnet NH Productions exclusively for Paramount+.

Relocating from San Diego to Sin City, The Game returns with a mix of original cast and new players to offer a modern-day examination of Black culture through the prism of pro football. The team will tackle racism, sexism, classism and more as they fight for fame, fortune, respect and love—all while trying to maintain their souls as they each play The Game.

“Fifteen years ago I created The Game and am so proud of the success we had, and that I was able to create characters and stories that resonated with so many people,” Brock Akil said in a statement. “I couldn’t be happier about leaving my beloved characters like Tasha Mack and Malik Wright in the hands of Devon, Wendy and Hosea, who I know will build off of the rich foundation the show has.”

The Game has been through quite the rollercoaster ride. The original iteration of the series was canceled by The CW in 2009 and revived by BET (for its fourth season), where it continued for a total of nine seasons before it was canceled in 2014. There was some hope of the series returning again in 2019 when Brock Akil announced she would be rebooting it, but The CW put the kibosh on that in 2020, confirming that the sports comedy-drama series would not be moving forward.

“From the moment it debuted, The Game was a groundbreaking series that used humor, heart and memorable characters to explore real issues involving race, gender and, of course, football,” Julie McNamara, Executive Vice President and Head of Programming, Paramount+ said in a statement. “What better time for Devon and the whole team to reunite for a fresh look at a world that has only become more at-the-center of the cultural conversation today.”

In case you want to revisit the entire series in anticipation of yet another revival, you can check out all nine seasons, which are currently streaming at Paramount+.