Netflix's Dear White People has paused production due to several team members testing positive for COVID-19, according to Deadline.
The Lionsgate-produced series has been filming its fourth and final season in Los Angeles, California but will break for two weeks following the revelation of a number of persons involved with the show testing positive for the novel coronavirus.
A Lionsgate spokesman told Deadline:
“Several team members of the Lionsgate television series Dear White People for Netflix have tested positive for COVID-19. They are currently in quarantine, and other staff members have been notified. We are following the extensive health and safety protocols we have in place, and the series will not be shooting for the next two weeks while quarantine measures are observed. The health and safety of our Dear White People team is our highest priority.”
Dear White People is among a number of high-profile shows to have production stalled by the new COVID-19 wave. Deadline also reported that Amazon's Bosch shut up shop because of COVID-19 over the week, with The Witcher and Vikings: Valhalla also experiencing the same.
The show in question is based on black Winchester University students who struggle with social injustice, cultural balance, and other issues being weathered by colored folks in the United States. It picks up from Justin Simien's 2014 movie Dear White People left off and stars Marque Richardson, Logan Browning, Brandon P. Bell, Antoinette Robertson, DeRon Horton, John Patrick Amedori, and Ashley Blaine Featherson.
The series was supposed to have been shot earlier this year but operations ground to a halt when the pandemic began. Simien previously told Deadline he was sad the show was coming to an end but acknowledged it was time to bring a close to the story.
“This is something I’ve been pouring every part of me into since 2005,” he said. “The movie came out in 2014, but I’ve been living with this child for a long time, and you know he’s a 15-year-old now or she’s a 15-year-old now or they’re a 15-year-old now. I’m proud of it.”