Jon Chaffin on what season 2 finally unlocks in Danger

Before you ever learned his name, you felt him. That’s the Jon Chaffin effect. The Atlanta-based actor has spent years collecting characters who hold things back, men with whole worlds buried beneath the surface, from the raw fury of Bigger Thomas in Native Son to the shadowy edges of BMF and HBO’s Perry Mason. In Season 2 of Diarra from Detroit, arriving on Paramount+ on July 29, his character Danger is done hiding.

What can we expect from Danger in season 2?

This season is going to be crazy. I don’t know how we even got this approved to shoot. Diarra and the writers turned it up a lot of notches. Danger is on a journey of self-discovery. He’s really trying to find himself, especially after season one, where he found out his whole life has been based on a lie. Who is he outside of this world he’s grown up in? Now he is taking it into his own hands to discover himself and find out who he is and what he really wants.

Do Danger and Diarra get together?

You’re trying to get all the spoilers. I’ll say this. He and Diarra do come together again in this second season. I’m not going to tell you in what way or how it happens, but Danger does find some love in his life.

What did you intentionally keep hidden about Danger from the audience in season one?

I would be lying if I said I had all the answers ahead of time because we were getting the scripts as they came. The secret was just that he really loved Diarra, genuinely, and really wanted to hopefully be the one that could be the protector for her. Ultimately, he had to accept his fate and tell her, go find Chris.

How did you and Diarra create the chemistry that feels like you’ve known each other so long?

The beautiful thing is that me and Diarra worked together prior. We did “Perry Mason.” I played her brother in the second season, and that’s where we met. Our sons are like two days apart. When it was time for her show and she had me come over and read for it, there was already a familiarity. We are both great actors in our own rights, and that part came together real easy.

How does the escalation in season 2 force Danger to show us who he really is?

The stakes for Danger are already raised because he still has the Wilber boys he was dealing with, with Spider and all of that. The storyline this season has a lot of chaos, but it’s organized chaos. It’s set in the summertime, so it’s hot and steamy and it’s Detroit. What we’re giving the audience this second season is elevated chaos and fun.

Who can we expect from the guest cast?

We got Glynn Turman. We have Phylicia Rashad, Morris came back, Method Man, Bokeem Woodbine, Lovie Simone, Amber Riley, Valarie Pettiford, Annmarie Horsford, Harry Lennix, Comedian CP, Shoniqua Shandai, Dave Martin, Drew Demarest, Leonard Roberts and Ernest Thomas. We’re literally like a melting pot for Black talent right now. I think we have the most of any other show of just old school legends and new school cast coming up. Being able to give Glynn Turman his flowers on set and Phylicia Rashad and Harry Lennix is a dream because I grew up watching them. Now I’m playing across from them. It’s like an out of body experience.

How do you portray a man shaped by Detroit while avoiding the stereotypes often attached to Black men from urban communities?

Diarra wrote an amazingly multidimensional character, and I was able to put my je ne sais quoi on it. I am so happy I get to show a Black man who has got a few bodies on him, but is also a lover, a protector, a provider. When I was asking my friends from Detroit about the lingo, they said, you already got it. You sound like you’re from Detroit. We all migrated from the South and went to the North, Midwest, and West. Detroit has a lot of similarities to Atlanta. Showing a Detroiter as multifaceted as that is like giving Detroit its flowers.

What complexity did you want to project in Danger when audiences might be tempted to put him in a box?

His vulnerability. I think that’s his superpower. Black men don’t often get to show themselves on their softer side, the vulnerable side. We always have to be on and ready. As protectors and providers, we don’t always get to sit back and feel what we’re feeling. We have to mask it a lot of times. For me, I wanted to infuse as much vulnerability and danger into this character as I possibly could, always looking for opportunities to juxtapose the threat of Danger with the vulnerability of Danger.

What does the stage demand from you that the camera does not?

The stage requires readiness. When that curtain goes up and those lights cut on, it’s you and the story and the audience. There’s no cut. There’s no taking another take. Being on stage for 90 minutes with no intermission, or doing an August Wilson play for two and a half hours, and you can’t break character. There’s a focus, a readiness, a discipline to theater. It’s like going on vacation when you do film and television. Once you’re on stage, it’s go time. There’s nothing like it.

When viewers finish season 2, what do you hope they understand about Danger?

That he’s a whole human being really trying to figure out his lot in life and where he belongs. I hope that they wrap their arms around Danger and show him that it’s okay to move past the burden of your past, to forgive yourself, and allow others to love you and to not be beholden to the things that you’ve done. Be looking forward to the things that you’re going to do and the person that you’re going to become. I think at the end of season two, y’all gonna really love Danger.