Lovie Simone does see a "future for Keisha and Justin" following 'Forever's ending: "I do think that they will cross paths" (2025)

Judy Blume‘s Forever captures two high schoolers’ capital-F firsts. As the 1975 novel receives the Netflix treatment with a series adaptation from Mara Brock Akil, series star Lovie Simone marked her own capital-F first by playing Keisha Clark.

“I love all my characters, but Keisha I hold very near and dear to my heart because that was the first time I was a lead,” she told DECIDER during a visit to our studio. “So it was the first time I ever sat with a character long enough to really just be in her world and exist in it almost every day.”

** Spoilers ahead for Forever, now streaming on Netflix**

Netflix’s Forever sees childhood friends Keisha and Justin Edwards (Michael Cooper Jr.) reunite as high schoolers at a New Year’s Eve party ringing in 2018. Sparks immediately fly, as the two reconnect and capture all of the feels that come with a first love.

However, change often accompanies this transformational stage in life, as both Keisha and Justin navigate college applications and determine where their dreams lie — and if they can fit each other into their ideal futures.

As the 26-year-old Simone noted during our chat, Forever is a “coming-of-age story” that not only deals with “romantic love,” but also “self-love.” The stellar cast also boasts Karen Pittman, Xosha Roquemore, Wood Harris, and Barry Shabaka Henley as members of Keisha and Justin’s families, who Simone said are “essential in Keisha’s story.”

“You do see that it is a show about love, not just romance, when you dive deeper into Keisha’s life and you see all of the people that she surrounds herself with and all this love,” she explained.

DECIDER sat down with Simone to discuss what it was like transforming Forever into a series, the role of social media in modern-day relationships, and the “amazing” experience of working with Akil and Regina King.

DECIDER: I’m so excited to talk about Forever. I want to start with how you felt adapting a classic like Judy Blume’s Forever. Did you feel any fan pressure at all? Was it daunting? How did you feel?

LOVIE SIMONE: I didn’t know too much about the books before auditioning. After the audition process, I did read the book and I fell in love with it. Like I was personally obsessed with the book. I read it in one sitting. So if anything, a lot of the pressure came from me really liking the book and wanting to get [the part].

You and Michael Cooper Jr. are at the center of this story and capture the chemistry, innocence, and excitement of a first love so well. Had you two met before shooting? How did you go about fostering this chemistry?

Well, the story starts off with them seeing each other after a long time of not seeing each other, so that’s kind of how we prepared to go into it. So we didn’t spend too much time at the beginning, and it did kind of help with that new feeling romantically. But, fun fact, there were two chemistry reads for Forever. And they were both in LA, and so I had to fly out because I live in Georgia. I’m from New York, but I came from Georgia. [Michael Cooper Jr.] was sitting next to me on the plane on the way to the first chemistry read.

No way.

Didn’t know each other at all. The only thing I was thinking was like, “I don’t know where this guy’s going, but he’s got the window seat and I’m jealous right now.” And then during the second one, I had seen him and I said, “Hey, I think we sat next to each other on the plane for like five, six hours.” And he was like, “Yeah, I think so, too.” So that’s how we met. It was kind of like the show, but not really like the show, of course.

I love it. Something else that I thought was so essential to the show was the soundtrack and how big of a role music played. Was there was a particular song or a scene tied to a song that really resonated with you while shooting?

There was no song in particular that I was listening to. I did make a Keisha playlist. So it is of that 2018, 2019 time. There’s no other songs on it. Just those songs from that year. So we got Frank Ocean, and SZA, and Tyler the Creator. So I was just really trying to zone in on that while I was preparing, but I did love how all of the score came together with the show. It was perfect.

With the modern take on the story comes the incorporation of cell phones and social media. Keisha and Justin go back and forth blocking each other, oftentimes over misunderstandings. Also the incorporation of social media and cell phones also lends itself to the storyline with Keisha’s sex tape being leaked. I was curious how you feel about the impact of social media and Internet on young relationships today?

That’s why I love Forever. It shows how much social media can cause somebody’s mental [health] to spiral, or cause certain situations to happen in romantic or familial relationships. A lot of life is happening on social media or on our cell phones, so it is cool to be able to be on set and react to a phone [message] rather than a person —because these are happenings in all of our day-to-day lives now. It’s a social media era.

In comparison to the book, the ending of this show is a little bit easier to swallow and left Keisha and Justin in a little bit of a healthier place — despite the breakup. Seeing them be happy for each other and their respective journeys. I want to know if you see there being a future for them, one that can maybe make for a Season 2? How do you feel?

I do see a future for Keisha and Justin. I do think that they will cross paths definitely again.

And would you be down to do a Forever Season 2?

I would be super down to do a Season 2. I love all my characters, but Keisha I hold very near and dear to my heart because that was the first time I was a lead. So it was the first time I ever sat with a character long enough to really just be in her world and exist in it almost every day.

What are you hoping that viewers take away from Forever?

I would say to give yourself and those around you grace because we’re all going through it at the end of the day. Forever is a coming-of-age story. It’s not just about romantic love, it’s about self-love. So just giving yourself grace and space to grow, and to be okay with yourself and to love your community and love everyone else along the way that’s helping you kind of contribute to your self-love.

While the show centers on Keisha and Justin’s love story, I really loved seeing how your characters’ relationships with your families played out. There’s a lot of love there. How did those relationships outside of Keisha and Justin’s relationship played a role in the story?

They were very essential in Keisha’s story because even with her whole scandal with her mom, I do think for a teenager, that relationship with the parent is very strained a lot of the times because of the different views based off of the different ages that you are. So there is a lot of reliance on my mother’s support and there is lot of reliance on my family’s support that you see in that show. And you do see that it is a show about love, not just romance, when you dive deeper into Keisha’s life and you see all of the people that she surrounds herself with and all this love.

I have to ask what it was like working with the showrunner Mara Brock Akil and also working with Regina King, who directed the first episode.

Working with them was so amazing. To be able to be in a space with women who represent like a future version of you —in the sense that they were once doing the things that I’m doing now. I’m just at the beginning of my career. They’re really far in it and really established. To be a fan of Girlfriends and Love Is, the shows that Mara created, and to be able to work with her on a show now is just super amazing. I’m so grateful. Working with Regina was also amazing because I worked with her on Greenleaf a couple years ago, briefly. To be able to have the space to work with her fully and dive into a character, and knowing that she came from an actress background, so the conversation with her as a director was just very simple and it was very easy for me to kind of fall into Keisha just based off of what Mara had in the world of Keisha already added on with Regina’s perspective and how she’s seen each individual scene.

Do you see yourself potentially going into writing or screenwriting or directing?

I do. I definitely do. I’m still trying to figure out which medium it is, if it’s writing or directing, but it’s definitely one or both.

Forever, Judy Blume’s book, has often been a subject of book bans due to delving into teenage sexuality and contraceptive methods. Do you think that the arrival of this series will raise awareness or questions around the book and the censorship around it?

I don’t think it will raise any red flags. If anything, I do think it will be the same as the book in the sense that it is showing people what happens to teenagers, and it’s not cutting anything out. Yes, we fall in love, but yes, we also get really intimate, and we could potentially have intercourse. So, to have the innocence still being put in that and not for it to be super just provocative is really tasteful to me as an actress, and that’s something that I wanna be a part of if it is a really intimate moment. I just want everything to be tasteful and that’s what Forever is.

Following this exciting project, do you have any others on the horizon that you can potentially tease to us?

I definitely do. I don’t know if you guys have been noticing this nail I’ve been hiding, but I definitely want everyone to know that I’m working on a very fun project that I put my blood, sweat, and tears into. [Points to right ring finger fingernail]. This nail, specifically. So it is a horror film, and I can’t say too much other than that, but I’m very excited for people to see this one.

I know we were just talking earlier about this being a Netflix project, and you’re also coming off of working on Manhunt for Apple TV. Are there any other streaming services that you would like to work with next?

Just the ones that I’m not on currently. I would like to be on all the streaming services. So what is that? Hulu? Yeah, I’d like to be on Hulu. That’d be nice. I’d like to also be on Crunchyroll. I love anime, so I wouldn’t mind that either.

Is there anything else that you would like to share about Forever?

I just love my character so much. I hope that anyone who sees herself in my character, or even himself in my character, they can really just take the time to step back and just give themselves grace, because my character does go through a lot. And so for anybody, not just teenagers, too, like for anybody that’s going through a lot with their situation, I just want them to give themselves grace and to just know that you have a community. Even if it’s one person, you have somebody out there who’s probably really on your side, maybe more than you.

At Decider, we’re about all things streaming. What are you streaming right now?

I justfinished watching Yellowjackets. It is a really good show. I am so happy that I sat down and watched it. It is really good and it’s women-led so it’s just everything to me. I love Yellowjackets and [Season 1] is on Netflix.

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.

Forever is now streaming on Netflix.