P-Valley is an American drama television series created by Katori Hall. The series is an adaptation of Hall's play Pussy Valley, and follows primarily African-American women working at The Pynk strip club in the Mississippi Delta under the femme non-binary proprietor Uncle Clifford Sayles. P-Valley stars Brandee Evans, Nicco Annan, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and Elarica Johnson. It premiered on Starz on July 12, 2020, and was renewed for a second season two weeks after its premiere. The second season premiered on June 3, 2022. In October 2022, the series was renewed for a third season.
P-Valley has received critical acclaim and garnered nominations from the GLAAD Media Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, TCA Awards, and the NAACP Image Awards.
The series follows the lives of employees working at a strip club called The Pynk in the fictional city of Chucalissa, Mississippi.
P-Valley, a television adaptation of Katori Hall's play Pussy Valley, first went into development at Starz in August 2016 after being shopped around to several networks. On November 26, 2018, it was announced that the network had given a series order to the adaptation with Chernin Entertainment producing the series and Karena Evans set to direct the first episode. The eight-episode first season was made using all women directors.
The series is primarily shot in Atlanta, Georgia.
The series premiered on July 12, 2020, and was renewed for a second season on July 27, 2020. Season two had ten episodes with production starting in June 2021. On February 2, 2022, Hall announced that season two would take place a few months after the season one finale and would include the COVID-19 pandemic. The second season premiered on June 3, 2022. On October 20, 2022, Starz renewed the series for a third season.
On May 11, 2023, it was announced that the filming of season three had halted in solidarity with the 2023 WGA strike. Showrunner Katori Hall stated, "Like many of my fellow showrunners, I feel as though my writing & producing duties are inextricably linked. We will not be filming until a fair deal is reached. #WGAStrong." Production of season three resumed a year later, as shared in an announcement on May 8, 2024.
On May 8, 2024, it was announced that production had resumed for season 3 and wrapped in mid-November 2024.
On November 26, 2018, Brandee Evans, Nicco Annan, Shannon Thornton, and J. Alphonse Nicholson were cast, with Evans as Mercedes and Annan as Uncle Clifford, and Thornton and Nicholson as series regulars. On February 20, 2019, Parker Sawyers was cast as Andre Watkins, Elarica Johnson was cast as Autumn Night, and Harriett D. Foy was cast as Patrice Woodbine. On March 19, 2019, Tyler Lepley was cast as Diamond and Dan J. Johnson was cast as Corbin Kyle. On April 24, 2019, Isaiah Washington was cast in a recurring role. On June 24, 2019, Loretta Devine was cast in a recurring role and Skyler Joy was cast as Gidget. On June 25, 2019, Thomas Q. Jones was cast in a recurring role. On July 29, 2019, Josh Ventura was cast in a recurring role.
Psalms Salazar and Gail Bean were announced as new cast members for season 2 on February 2, 2022. Morocco Omari, Jordan M. Cox, and Dominic DeVore were promoted to series regulars. John Clarence Stewart, Shamika Cotton, and Miracle Watts were announced as recurring cast members on March 15, 2022. In 2021, Washington announced he would not return for the second season, stating that he had been fired by Lionsgate. Showrunner Katori Hall disputed that Washington was fired in an April 2022 interview with EW. After the season 2 finale it was announced that Elarica Johnson, whose character Autumn Night moved away from Chucalissa, would not return to the series.
Gail Bean, Bertram Williams Jr, and Thomas Q. Jones were promoted to series regulars for season 3. Mea Wilkerson was introduced as a new cast member, playing Haiku, a new dancer at the Pynk." Additional new recurring cast members announced on May 20, 2024 are Nicholas G. Sims, DeâÂÂAdre Aziza, Brandon J. Dirden, Moritz J. Williams, Chaz Hodges, Bella Blaq and Jay Jones.
Jamaica Craft serves as the show's choreographer. Before becoming a professional choreographer, she started her career dancing for TLC in Atlanta. The show has several body doubles and background dancers including Tess Artiste, Ashley Fox and Judy Gray. Professional exotic dancer Spyda is the stunt double for Brandee Evans.
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 100% for the first season based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A stunning, lyrical piece of neon noir, P-Valley explores the unseen lives of strippers in Mississippi through Katori Hall's singular gaze, celebrating the beauty of the craft without sugarcoating the challenges." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 85 out of 100 based on 16 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
Referred to as a Southern Gothic by critics, season one was praised for its portrayal of the Black women strippers' lives. Hannah Giorgis of The Atlantic wrote, "P-Valley is lush, resplendent, and sometimes haunting. All of the women's strife occurs against the backdrop of sweeping southern vistas or kaleidoscopic lighting, often with eerily bouncing beats soundtracking their dances." Similarly, Tambay Obenson reviewed the show for IndieWire, "These are richly crafted characters in what is essentially a quasi-family. It's obvious Hall did her homework, talking to dozens of strippers over six years, to make the production as authentic as possible."
Critics also noted the portrayal of social issues. Eric Deggans stated in a review for NPR, "...between the storylines about domestic abuse and a secret casino project, we see takes on colorism, closeted gay men and the struggle to survive when you're poor, Black and outside polite society in the South."
Brandee Evans' acting received positive reception. Writing for The Ringer, Allison Herman stated, "Evans is more than capable of carrying the show herself, and discovery of a freshly minted actress adds to the thrill." Nicco Annan's portrayal of Uncle Clifford was named to THR's list of Best TV Performances of 2020.
The second season received mainly positive critical reception. It holds an 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on ten critic ratings with an average rating of 8.0/10.
In January 2022, American singer and producer Nicci Gilbert filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Lionsgate Entertainment, Starz, Legendary Television, Chernin Entertainment, P-Valley executive producer Liz Garcia, and co-executive producer Patrik-Ian-Polk over the show P-Valley. Gilbert alleged the show stole elements from her musical stage play, Soul Kittens Cabaret, which was released on DVD in 2011. The lawsuit alleged that entertainment attorney Leroy Bobbit and Gilbert pitched Soul Kittens Cabaret as a musical TV drama to Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer at his Los Angeles office in 2014. The lawsuit alleged Feltheimer was given two copies of the plaintiff's script and the Soul Kittens Cabaret DVD. Gilbert-Daniels' proffered copyright expert Robert H. Aft opined that P-Valley used an "overwhelming number of elements" from Soul Kittens Cabaret,however, his expert report was struck. On December 7, 2023, the judge ultimately granted summary judgment to the defendants, dismissing the claim. Although both works focused on female dancers working in adult entertainment with significant similarities, their expression of this idea "takes on very different forms". Moreover, the court observed GilbertâÂÂs descriptions of both works were âÂÂplagued with mischaracterizationsâ that were sometimes âÂÂblatant.â Gilbert-Daniels appealed the decision, however, the Ninth Circuit also rejected the opinions of Gilbert-Daniels' expert, Mr. Aft, finding that he was not qualified to offer an opinion on substantial similarities between the works and that large portions of his supposed opinions were "irrelevant and unhelpful". In addition, regarding Gilbert-Daniels' comparisons the court stated, "Caution is especially warranted here, as several of Gilbert-Danielsâ proffered comparisons reference materials that are not copyrighted, mischaracterize the works, or fail to cite directly to the materials at issue." The Ninth Circuit affirmed the courtâÂÂs rulings. The district court also awarded the defendants their fees and costs. In December 2024, Gilbert filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, who ultimately denied Gilbert-Daniels' appeal on October 6, 2025, and the right to go trial.
In March 2024, it was announced that Starz greenlit Down in the Valley, a documentary series about Black American culture in the Deep South inspired by P-Valley. It was described by Digital Spy as a "companion piece" to P-Valley and would be hosted by Nicco Annan, the actor for Uncle Clifford, who is also an executive producer. The series premiered on July 5, 2024.