Mara Brock Akil’s Forever is not exactly your mother’s Judy Blume. Yes, it’s still about first love, heartbreak, and sex. But this Netflix reimagining does something bolder: it reframes those rites of passage through the lens of modern Black adolescence.
Set in 2018 Los Angeles and inspired by Blume’s 1975 novel Forever…, the eight-episode series centers on Keisha (Lovie Simone) and Justin (Michael Cooper Jr.), two teens with ambition, hormones, and the weight of inherited trauma.
While Blume’s original told the story of Katherine and Michael in suburban New Jersey, Akil’s adaptation brings the drama, the heat, and the heart to sun-washed LA, showing that first love is just as transformative now as it was 50 years ago.
“Judy wasn’t sure it could translate in this modern era,” Akil told Netflix Tudum.
However, Akil, creator of Girlfriends and Being Mary Jane, proves otherwise by incorporating Black familial dynamics, contemporary teenhood, and a resonant post-2010s social reality.
Mara Brock Akil rewrites with intention and impact
What makes Netflix’s Forever groundbreaking isn’t just what it updates, but what it re-centers. Keisha is no longer a passive participant in love but a full character facing expectations, scholarship dreams, and identity.
“The stakes are high for a Black girl who was invisible yesterday and now is completely seen,” Akil explained.
Keisha, a track star with top grades, is shouldering the pressure of becoming the first in her family to attend a prestigious school like Howard. Meanwhile, Justin (charismatic, musically gifted, but living with ADHD) is based on Akil’s son, making him a deeply personal creation.
Rather than replicate the novel’s arc beat-for-beat, Akil asks what first love means for Black teens during a chaotic time in America.
From Trayvon Martin to George Floyd, the years leading up to 2020 left many Black families afraid to let their children explore vulnerability. “Forget a first love—you might be dead, or you might be in jail,” says Akil.
The series’ choice to set Forever in 2018 is thus essential.
Forever resonates beyond Judy Blume’s pages
One of the most powerful shifts in Forever is its prioritization of Black male vulnerability. In Blume’s original, the female protagonist’s inner world took center stage. But here, Justin is just as emotionally developed as Akil, as he places his experiences, fears, and dreams right next to Keisha’s.
“Black boys have no place for their vulnerability,” she notes, giving Justin the space to FEEL in a way few young Black male characters are allowed to onscreen.
Sex positivity (one of Blume’s hallmarks) is preserved but updated for a generation shaped by social media and surveillance. A central sex tape plotline addresses digital privacy, peer pressure, and autonomy with the same candor Blume once brought to print. Meanwhile, Akil anchors it to a love story that’s intimate, messy, and real.
Ultimately, Forever is less about remaking a classic and more about reclaiming it. It’s for the girls who were once told to shrink themselves, and the boys who were taught not to cry. And it’s for every teen, past and present, trying to make sense of love for the first time.
NEXT: See The Teaser For The Adaptation Of Forever
