A Snowfall Saga’ As Wanda

That responsibility extends beyond simply being No. 1 on the call sheet. BOSSIP told Bean that her performance seemingly raises the bar for everyone sharing a scene with her and asked whether she feels a responsibility to set that tone on set.

“100 percent. 100 percent. I feel I have to lead by example,” Bean said. “I’m always making sure that I come prepared, know my lines, I’m on time. I don’t want to be the leader that says, but the leader that does.”

For Bean, that also means doing the work beyond what’s written in the script.

“They know I have a good time, but [I’m] taking it serious as far as doing my own personal research outside of just what’s on the page or in the room, and truly bringing this character to life and showing that we have a responsibility to do these characters justice, tell real stories.”

That leadership is also met with plenty of support from her castmates, something Bean said reminds her of growing up with five older brothers.

“What I do love with all the guys, they’re so overprotective of me, ’cause I’ve had that forever because I have five older brothers,” she told BOSSIP. “But seeing how serious they take it and how supportive they are of me, and they tell me, they’re like, ‘No, you did a good job.’ So, yeah.”

From there, BOSSIP dug deeper into the woman at the center of The Drop. After watching Wanda spend much of Snowfall trying to find herself again, we asked Bean what it felt like to finally play a version of Wanda who knows exactly what she wants and believes she’s found her purpose.

“To have a Wanda who is now more sure of herself now more than ever, very confident, it just feels like she’s becoming a woman. Like she’s evolving,” Bean told Liz. “You know, us as Black women, we’re constantly trying to find our purpose, and then when we find it, you know. You know when you hit that moment of, ‘Oh, this is what I’m supposed to be doing. This is who I am. This is my purpose.’”

Bean compared Wanda’s evolution to the feeling of finally recognizing something, or someone, that’s meant for you.

“It’s like when you searching for your mate, right? And you don’t know you found your husband until you’re like, ‘Oh, this is what it feels like.’ So I felt like in Snowfall, she was just enjoying life, you know, not really knowing, not seeing a means to an end, but just, ‘Oh, life is fun. It’s cute. I’m having a good time.’ And now she’s like, ‘Oh, this is my purpose.’”

Now, we couldn’t just let that “husband” example slide by without asking a little follow-up! The Atlanta native sounded mighty confident about knowing what finding your husband feels like, so we playfully questioned whether she might be speaking from a little real-life experience.

With a smile, Bean simply responded, “Yes ma’am!”

Speaking of love, we couldn’t talk about Wanda’s next chapter without getting into the love story Snowfall fans have been invested in for years. Wanda and Leon fought hard to find their way back to each other, but without giving too much away, The Drop finds the two navigating a very different space. We asked Bean what she thought when she first learned where the writers were taking their relationship.

“Without spoiling it, you know what? ’90s love is a lot different than how we see love displayed today,” Bean explained. “Also at the time where a lot of times people didn’t talk about stuff in relationships. Certain conversations were taboo. It was just, it was complicated.”

And while Bean isn’t giving away whether Wanda and Leon will ultimately find their way back to each other, she admitted she’s enjoying the push and pull between the two.

“We don’t know where they’re gonna end up at, but I do like watching Wanda and Leon be in this place of tug of war with one another.”

Wanda’s newfound purpose doesn’t stop with her own dreams. The Drop introduces her younger cousin Lamar, played by Asante Blackk, and Wanda quickly recognizes talent and potential in him that others aren’t quite ready to see. According to Bean, that’s partly because Wanda isn’t just ambitious; she’s a visionary.

“Wanda is a visionary. So she sees something so clear in Lamar without a shadow of doubt,” Bean told BOSSIP.

But Wanda’s determination to believe in Lamar also comes from a much deeper place. Bean explained that the cousins share a bond rooted in childhood and similar feelings of abandonment, even if viewers don’t get their entire backstory this season.

“You know, you have your favorite cousin that’s kind of like your cousin-sibling? So that’s what they are,” she explained. “She’s known him for so long. Obviously she was there when he was born, you know? And it’s like you kind of take that cousin under your wing and you feel like they your sibling. “I think she just knows what it’s like to have a dream and nobody support you.”

Before wrapping up the conversation, Bean had one more message for viewers: tune in and show up. She encouraged fans to turn on those TVs, stream the series, and help push the viewership numbers because supporting The Drop means helping create more opportunities for Black stories to be told from Black perspectives.

It also means showing up for a Black woman leading a major television series, an opportunity Bean acknowledged earlier in our conversation is still far too rare.

The Drop: A Snowfall Saga airs on FX and streams on Hulu.