Beyond the Gates Season 1 is CBS’s groundbreaking 2025 daytime soap—the first new network daytime drama in 26 years and the first ever created by an all-Black writing team. Set in an ultra-wealthy gated community outside Washington, D.C., the series centers on the powerful Dupree family: retired senator Martin Dupree (Clifton Davis) and his socialite wife Evelyn (Daphne Duplaix), whose picture-perfect façade hides decades of secrets, scandals, and betrayals. When Evelyn’s long-lost sister Anita (Tamara Tunie) returns after 30 years with explosive proof that she was framed for a murder the Duprees helped cover up, every alliance shatters. Affairs, hidden children, corporate takeovers, a serial blackmailer stalking the gates, and at least one actual murder keep the 42-minute episodes moving at breakneck speed. Think Empire meets Dynasty with the classic soap DNA of The Young and the Restless.

Show Details

• Title: Beyond the Gates Season 1
• Premiere Date: February 24, 2025 (weekdays at 2:00 pm ET / 1:00 pm PT/CT on CBS; streaming same-day on Paramount+)
• Number of Episodes Ordered: 220 (traditional daytime soap schedule, airing Monday–Friday)
• Showrunners/Creators: Michele Val Jean (43 years in daytime, former head writer of The Bold and the Beautiful and General Hospital)
• Executive Producers: Sheila Ducksworth, Robert Guza Jr., Julie Carruthers, Leon Russell
• Production Companies: CBS Studios, NAACP Venture, P&G Studios
• Current Ratings (as of November 19, 2025): Averaging 2.8–3.1 million viewers per episode (strongest daytime launch since 2009); #1 new daytime show among African-American viewers 18–49; trending daily on Paramount+ Top 10

Main Cast

• Tamara Tunie as Anita Dupree – the vengeful prodigal aunt
• Clifton Davis as Martin Dupree – patriarch & retired senator
• Daphne Duplaix as Evelyn Dupree – icy matriarch
• Karla Mosley as Dani Dupree – ambitious daughter & congressional candidate
• Alexia Marcel as Nicole Dupree Richardson – influencer daughter hiding a dark addiction
• Mike Manning as Bill Hamilton – white husband of Nicole, scheming lawyer
• Lauren Buglioli as Dr. Naomi Hamilton – Bill’s secret lover & hospital chief
• Brandon Claybon as Ted Wilkens – handsome groundskeeper with mysterious ties to Anita
• Timon Kyle Durrett as Vernon Dupree – Martin’s estranged brother
• Sean Freeman as Andre Walker – Vernon’s openly gay son
• Arielle Prepetit as Chelsea Hamilton – Naomi’s troublemaking daughter