{"id":1290025,"date":"2025-07-01T01:24:55","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T01:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/?p=1290025"},"modified":"2025-07-01T01:24:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T01:24:55","slug":"the-best-man-director-says-new-book-answers-fans-biggest-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/pt\/the-best-man-director-says-new-book-answers-fans-biggest-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Best Man\u2019 Director Says New Book Answers Fans\u2019 Biggest Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When \u201cThe Best Man: The Final Chapters<\/a>\u201d premiered on Peacock in late 2022, fans of the iconic rom-com thought that was officially the end of the road for Harper (Taye Diggs), Jordan (Nia Long), Robyn (Sanaa Lathan), Lance (Morris Chestnut), Murch (Harold Perrineau), Candace (Regina Hall), Quentin (Terrence Howard) and Shelby (Melissa De Sousa) \u2014 and so did creator-director Malcolm D. Lee.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhen I finished the television show, I felt like we had done what we were supposed to do in terms of giving back to the fans and wrapping up the story,\u201d the filmmaker admits, reflecting on the journey that began with his 1999 directorial debut and all-time classic film, \u201cThe Best Man.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Between then and now, Lee\u2019s franchise has endured, first with a sequel film, 2013\u2019s \u201cThe Best Man Holiday,\u201d and later an eight-part limited series that reunited its ensemble cast \u2014 affectionately dubbed \u201cThe Black Pack\u201d \u2014 in midlife, as they navigated parenthood, personal invention and their ever-evolving relationships. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The <\/span>record-setting<\/span><\/a> Peacock show was meant to tie up loose ends and serve as a final farewell for fans. However, when an exciting new opportunity arose for Lee to revive his beloved franchise, he jumped at the chance, and in the most fitting, full-circle way.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Taye Diggs as Harper and Sanaa Lathan as Robyn in Lee’s 1999 directorial debut “The Best Man.”<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Devoted fans of \u201cThe Best Man\u201d will remember that Harper\u2019s provocative debut novel, \u201cUnfinished Business,\u201d exposed his one-night stand with his college best friend\u2019s bride, thus setting off the explosive chain of drama that ensued in the original film. The repercussions of the scandalous book rippled through \u201cThe Best Man Holiday\u201d and, more subtly, in \u201cThe Final Chapters.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Now, more than 25 years later, that same fictional novel has become the springboard for Lee\u2019s own literary debut, \u201cThe Best Man: Unfinished Business.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Fans were thrilled when Lee announced his book plans back in April. For many, revisiting his franchise\u2019s origins through a novel felt like something that should\u2019ve happened long ago, but Lee admits that he\u2019s \u201cfantasized about writing novels\u201d for some time now. He just needed the right offer to make his dream a reality.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI got to that place where there was an opportunity to try my hand at [it],\u201d says Lee, noting that he was once too immersed in filmmaking to pursue the author path. That is, until Storehouse Voices, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, stepped up and agreed to continue \u201cThe Best Man\u201d as a book trilogy, the first installment of which hits shelves on July 1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThis felt like the right time to do it,\u201d Lee continues. \u201cHere\u2019s an opportunity to tell a little bit more story with some characters that are already established, that have backstory, and there\u2019s still more to say.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He adds, \u201cI think there is unfinished business with these characters.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Lee set out to make \u201cUnfinished Business\u201d a cinematic literary work, which is why he says he chose accomplished author Jayne Allen to co-write his debut with him. \u201cShe was really good in that regard,\u201d the filmmaker adds, \u201cand challenged me where I needed to be challenged and pushed where I needed to pull, and vice versa.\u201d<\/figcaption>
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Courtesy of Storehouse Voices<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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Staying true to his franchise, Lee teamed up with acclaimed author Jayne Allen (\u201cBlack Girls Must Die Exhausted\u201d) to bring Harper and friends back to the pages that started it all. Their spicy page-turner picks up where \u201cThe Final Chapters\u201d left off, following Harper, Jordan and Robyn in new phases of their professional and personal lives as unresolved feelings threaten to upend their present. The rest of the crew \u2014 Shelby, Quentin, Lance, Murch and Candace \u2014 offer support as the trio fight for their second act (and second chances), but pain from the past makes the journey anything but easy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Lee knew that if he was going to open the door on \u201cThe Best Man\u201d again, his book needed to address the root of some lingering questions from \u201cThe Final Chapters,\u201d most notably what really led to Harper and Robyn\u2019s nasty divorce. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI think it\u2019s a natural progression for all the characters,\u201d Lee tells me of how he decided where to take the story next. \u201cAnd I wanted to explore life after divorce for [Harper], and what that was gonna feel like and how he was gonna adjust to that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cUnfinished Business\u201d opens with Harper enjoying the perks of fame as a newly minted Pulitzer Prize-winning author. The single bachelor has been living it up in his Brooklyn penthouse as he works on the outline for his \u201cUnfinished Business\u201d Hollywood sequel. It\u2019s mostly the life he asked for after failing to make his marriage work with Robyn. But as the book reveals, something (or rather someone<\/em>) is still missing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cHe doesn\u2019t quite fit into his life and his [married] friend group the way he used to when he had Robyn in his life,\u201d Lee explains of Harper\u2019s arc, which shakes things up on all sides throughout the book.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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According to Lee, the \u201cFinal Chapters\u201d writers’ room had arguments about whether to take Harper and Jordan\u2019s (Taye Diggs and Nia Long, pictured) relationship to the next level in the series. Ultimately, the creator says he felt like the \u201ctiming wasn’t right for them to be together.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Across the country is Jordan, now living her very best (single) life on the West Coast after saying goodbye to the busy corporate grind. She, too, is still making sense of her new environment amid a career pivot and midlife renaissance, which eventually pulls her right back into Harper\u2019s orbit \u2014 much to the delight of longtime fans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ever since their college hookup was famously cut short \u2014 shoutout to that unforgettable skip on Stevie Wonder\u2019s \u201cAs\u201d \u2014 Harper and Jordan have straddled the line between close friends and something more. Their efforts to turn that sexual tension into a relationship have fallen flat over the years, but now that they\u2019re both partnerless again, Lee says he \u201ccertainly wanted to explore what the two of them exploring together would be like\u201d in his book.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cPeople are waiting to see what the answer to the question is: Will Harper and Jordan ever have their night? Will they ever be together? Are they truly soulmates?\u201d the author adds. \u201cAnd I think the book certainly poses that question.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sanaa Lathan as Robyn and Taye Diggs as Harper in a scene from Peacock’s “The Best Man: The Final Chapters.”<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Another storyline that \u201cUnfinished Business\u201d dives into is Robyn\u2019s new life in Ghana, where she\u2019s now raising her and Harper\u2019s daughter, Mia. Now fully embracing her bohemian restaurateur dreams, the new divorc\u00e9e is stepping into true independence for the first time since meeting Harper, though not without challenges. She\u2019s navigating the brutal realities of launching her own restaurant and attempting to revive her love life, all while still dealing with her and Harper\u2019s complicated coparenting relationship.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s a much more nuanced perspective on Robyn that builds on what was hinted at in \u201cThe Final Chapters.\u201d As Lee tells it, her newfound journey serves as a somewhat direct response to how audiences reacted to her shockingly divorcing Harper and moving across the ocean with their daughter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThere were some real visceral reactions to Robyn\u2019s decision to not only get divorced, but to take Mia with her away from Harper,\u201d Lee explains. \u201cI wanted an opportunity to explore her psyche, and do it in a country where many of us and our ancestors came from, were abducted from.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI got an opportunity to actually go to Ghana and spend time there,\u201d he adds. \u201cAnd in doing so, really helped to enrich the storytelling of Robyn and her journey, and how she feels reborn and reinvented in Accra.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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(L-R) Monica Calhoun as Mia, Melissa De Sousa as Shelby and Nia Long as Jordan in “The Best Man Holiday.”<\/figcaption>
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\u00a9Universal \/Everett Collection<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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In a way, Lee\u2019s franchise is experiencing its own rebirth with his book trilogy. And for the first time in his career, the writer-director isn\u2019t bound by script pages, casting logistics or the burden of coordinating production schedules when it comes to the \u201cBest Man\u201d universe. While Lee still loves the Hollywood craft, writing a novel has given him the freedom to delve into his endearing characters in a \u201cmuch more expansive way than you could ever do in movies and television.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s why I really love the experience,\u201d Lee says of his book. \u201cThere are a good number of people who were like, \u2018Oh, why didn\u2019t I do another movie?\u2019 But this book is, I have to say, a great follow-up to the [\u2018Best Man\u2019] movies [and series].\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He adds, \u201cJust [cinematically], the sounds are there, the feels are there, there\u2019s more<\/em> there. People want more. They\u2019re getting more with this book.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For more than two decades, Lee has kept Black IP alive and audiences fed with his timeless franchise, which is no small feat in today\u2019s regressive industry. He credits much of that success to the loyal fans who have remained invested throughout every chapter of the cultural landmark, from a chaotic wedding eve to a heartbreaking loss to the growing pains of middle-aged adulting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cFortunately, these are characters that people feel very close to,\u201d says Lee. \u201cAnd so this franchise is nothing without the fans who support it. We\u2019ve been lucky in that regard that we\u2019re writing engaging stories.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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(L-R): Morris Chestnut as Lance, Harold Perrineau as Murch, Terrence Howard as Quentin and Taye Diggs as Harper in “The Best Man.”<\/figcaption>
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\u00a9Universal \/ Everett Collection<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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Lee has a few screen projects underway, including a TV adaptation of Kennedy Ryan\u2019s bestselling novel \u201cBefore I Let Go,\u201d<\/a> which he\u2019s both directing and executive producing. He also recently wrapped filming on an erotic thriller for Blumhouse<\/a>, starring Chloe Bailey, Coco Jones and Lynn Whitfield. But on the literary front, he\u2019s gearing up for the next two installments of the \u201cUnfinished Business\u201d trilogy, both expected to drop sometime next year. And fans can rest assured \u2014 those novels will delve into the rest of the \u201cBest Man\u201d crew, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Although Lee knows audiences will be anticipating an \u201cUnfinished Business\u201d movie or TV adaptation down the line, his current priority is simply getting his books out into the world \u2014 and then, he says, \u201cwe\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n