CBS renewed the soap opera Beyond the Gates for its third and fourth seasons in April, carrying it into the 2027-28 television season. Beyond the Gates is the first American soap opera to feature a predominantly Black cast since NBC’s “Generations” (1989-1991), and the first daytime drama to debut on American network television since NBC’s Passions (1999-2007). The renewal shows signs of growth for the soap opera genre after years of decline. The late 2000s and early 2010s saw mass cancelations of several beloved daytime dramas, leaving just four legacy soaps on the air. In 2022, Days of Our Lives (1965-) was moved exclusively to Peacock, leaving NBC as the only Big Three broadcast network without a soap opera on its daytime lineup.
The changing conversation around daytime dramas: The success of Beyond the Gates shows a hunger from audiences for soap opera programming. Now, success is a relative term, as Beyond the Gates has consistently come in last place for daytime drama viewing figures since its February 2025 debut. Still, the soap is successful in its time slot, and daytime television ratings are nothing like they used to be when soaps were at their peak. Critically, the soap maintains a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.2/10 score on IMDB.
Beyond the Gates revitalized the soap opera genre by introducing a new daytime legacy after more than 20 years. The soap centers on the affluent, multigenerational Dupree family residing in the wealthy Maryland community of Fairmont Crest, just outside Washington, D.C. Beyond the Gates successfully balances screen time for its leading family, from matriarch and patriarch Anita (Tamera Tunie) and Vernon (Clifton Davis), their daughters Dr. Nicole (Daphnée Duplaix) and Danielle “Dani” (Karla Mosley), to their children. The soap respects the talents of its legacy actors while providing a space for the future generation to grow.
Beyond the Gates expanded its universe early on. Nicole and Dani’s failed marriages to Dr. Theodore “Ted” Richardson (Keith D. Robinson) and attorney William “Bill” Hamilton, respectively, introduced the Dupree extended family: Nicole and Ted’s children, Congressman Martin (Brandon Claybon) and businesswoman Katherine “Kat” Richardson (Colby Muhammad), and Dani and Bill’s daughters, attorney Naomi Hamilton-Hawthorne (Arielle Prepetit) and social media influencer Chelsea Hamilton (RhonniRose Mantilla), linking the Duprees, Richardsons, and Hamiltons together.
Between 2007 and 2012, five American soaps came to an end within five years. The CBS soap opera Guiding Light (1937-2009) is the longest-running daytime drama produced in the United States, ahead of ABC’s General Hospital (1963-), which is the longest-running American soap opera currently in production. Following the cancellations of Guiding Light and several other daytime dramas, the future of soaps looked bleak. However, the debut of Beyond the Gates challenged the idea that the soap opera genre was dead. While the soap hasn’t single-handedly revitalized daytime TV, it disproved the idea that a new daytime drama would be completely rejected.
The dreaded reboot: It’s no surprise that fans want to see their favorite soaps back on their screens. Audiences fell in love with soaps like ABC's Port Charles (1997-2003), a spin-off of General Hospital, and CBS’s As the World Turns (1956-2010) because of their character-driven storylines and writing. Several Port Charles actors eventually landed prominent roles on General Hospital, most notably Kelly Monaco, who first played the role of Livvie Locke from 2000-03 and then Sam McCall from 2003-2024. McCall became a fan favorite due to her adventurous spirit, supercouple romance with Jason Morgan (Steve Burton), and roots as a descendant of the legendary Cassadine family.
In the 1990’s, As the World Turns introduced an interracial couple when such romances were uncommon in American media. It seemed that everyone in Oakdale was against the relationship between Jessica Griffin (Tamara Tunie) and Duncan McKechnie (Michael Swan), especially their respective families. Although the romance was short-lived, Jessica and Duncan had one child, Bonnie McKechnie, and their relationship set As the World Turns apart from its competitors for its depiction.
Guiding Light (also known as The Guiding Light before 1975) originally began as a 15-minute radio serial on NBC in 1937, and transitioned to CBS Radio in 1947. Beginning June 30, 1952, the soap began airing on CBS television, but remained on CBS Radio until 1956. The soap’s TV debut was the first time in which fans could see the characters they had been following for the past 15 years on screen. It holds the distinction of being the only American daytime drama to air on both TV and radio simultaneously.
Guiding Light aired its first color broadcast on March 13, 1967. The soap aired 15-minute episodes for more than three decades before expanding to a half-hour in 1968, which by then was standard. In 1977, it finally leaped to a full hour. Over the course of 72 years, fans stuck with Guiding Light through a network change, a move from radio to TV, a transition from black and white to color, and its origins as a 15-minute radio serial to a one-hour daytime TV soap opera.
In its early years, One Life to Live drew attention for its representation of characters of color. Carla Gray (Ellen Holly) is recognized as the first Black lead character on an American daytime drama. From the character’s debut in October 1968, Carla, a lighter-skinned Black woman, pretended to be white in a controversial storyline about race relations. The show's audience didn't learn that Carla was actually Black until about five months after her first appearance in Llandview. Her relationship with Ted Hall (Al Freeman Jr.) was prominent for depicting the first wedding between two Black characters on an American soap opera.
All My Children birthed one of daytime’s most iconic supercouples of color, Officer Jesse (Darnell Williams) and Dr. Angie Hubbard (Debbi Morgan). Jesse and Angie were one of the soap’s first and most memorable couples, and helped to draw a diverse audience to All My Children at the height of its popularity in the 1980s. Jesse and Angie’s romance achieved supercouple status because of all the obstacles they had to overcome, including death. Jesse was believed to have died in 1988 in the line of duty, but Angie discovered nearly 20 years later, in 2008, that Jesse never died, but faked his own death to protect his family.
The problem with rebooting a legacy soap: Reboots have been met with varied levels of success. Nonetheless, viewers still want to see original content. There are inherent problems that come with rebooting a legacy soap. A successful reboot must respect its source material, reintroduce legacy families and characters, explain decades of mythology to new viewers, satisfy fans of the original series, and establish a contemporary identity without alienating the existing audience. Those propositions are no small feat, and real-world factors make many of these virtually impossible. Actors retire, pass away, or move on to other projects, and networks can never capture a particular moment in time twice.
The better opportunity—create new soap operas: Since Beyond the Gates is a success, why not launch another soap? This is the question networks and streaming services should be asking themselves. CBS found lightning in a bottle with Beyond the Gates, and it’s impossible to know if lightning will strike twice, but viewership trends indicate it’s worth a try.
Most importantly, new soap operas have the opportunity to create an original legacy for their fans. A completely new soap can establish new families, build new rivalries, attract younger viewers, and build a new fan following around the current generation. Fans of legacy soaps will have high expectations of reboots, and new viewers will be overwhelmed by years of history. A new soap has the benefit of starting from scratch, free of high expectations and existing legacies to navigate.
What could the next hit soap opera look like?: The success of Beyond the Gates implies that fans want to see soaps that are not only original but diverse as well. Audiences want to see themselves represented in the media they consume. Keeping this in mind, networks and creators would do well to launch soaps with a diverse cast anchored by a minority family.
One potential new soap could center on an Asian family, which has never been done on American daytime television. This soap would explore an affluent family with several ties to the community through business and interpersonal connections. The patriarch could be the CEO of the family business who wants to keep the empire in the family, despite challenges and resistance from his children. The son could follow in his father’s footsteps while trying to live up to the family’s expectations, while the daughter could rebel by chasing her dream of becoming an actress, creating interfamilial conflict. The matriarch could hold the role of CFO of the family business, while playing peacemaker between the rebellious daughter and traditional father.
This new soap could explore the historical context behind the patriarch’s desire to keep the family business flourishing. Asian-Americans have historically been awarded less opportunity in the United States than their white counterparts, and the patriarch of this new soap could be a first-generation immigrant who came from nothing. This historical framework would bring the old-fashioned patriarch and Gen Z daughter to an understanding of each other’s perspectives.
Another soap could see a Latino family take center stage. The NBC soaps Santa Barbara (1984-1993), Passions, and Sunset Beach (1997-99) were significant for their representations of Hispanic and Latino communities. However, this family would be foundational to the soap, rather than serving as secondary characters to a pre-existing universe.
The founding family of this soap could be led by a lesbian couple, promoting inclusion of the BiPOC community, which would make daytime history. It’s 2026—of course, soaps have had prominent LGBTQIA+ couples. However, an original soap family led by a lesbian couple would be a legendary milestone for daytime TV.
Of course, the future of daytime should not be reduced to a checklist of racial identities. Rather, creators, networks, and streaming services must build a world of diverse characters that audiences root for. The question is not “What demographic has not had a daytime drama?”, but instead “What world has not been built into daytime TV?”
Build daytime for today's audience: Daytime soaps generally lack representation not only for people of color, but also for people beyond the millennial generation. The four legacy soaps have virtually no appeal to Gen Z. Most characters have white-collar jobs in law enforcement, health care, or business. Viewers aren’t exposed to characters who make a living by influencing on social media or growing their personal brands.
Beyond the Gates changed the game. Kat and Chelsea are the soap’s voices of Gen Z. They co-own and run their own fashion business, “ChelseaKat”, which they promote heavily on their social media pages, which have large followings and a healthy presence. It is implied they make their income through content creation and brand deals almost as much as from sales. Of course, your average Gen Z adult probably isn’t living an extravagant lifestyle such as this. Still, it’s refreshing to see this ever-growing career path represented on daytime TV, and it makes sense considering the power Kat, Chelsea, and the rest of the Dupree family hold in Fairmont Crest.
Beyond the Gates blends boomers, Gen X, and millennials into its narrative. Ted’s secret affair with Dana “Leslie” Thomas (Trisha Mann-Grant) and the revelation that they share a daughter, Eva Thomas (Ambyr Michelle), was one of the soap’s earliest plot twists. At the same time, Dani’s feud with Hayley Lawson (Marquita Goings) has been going strong since the soap’s debut. In classic soap fashion, Beyond the Gates tackled a serious topic with Anita’s breast cancer storyline. Since the soap’s debut, Beyond the Gates has appealed to a wide audience with its storylines.
This is a vast difference from the four legacy soaps. In particular, fans have frequently complained about legacy General Hospital characters Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Bernard), Jason Morgan (Steve Burton), and Carly Spencer (Laura Wright), who are well into their 50s and 60s, taking up too much screen time. On The Young and the Restless, supercouple Victor (Eric Braeden) and Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) are still featured in front-burner storylines over 40 years after their debut. While writers should acknowledge the impact of their legacy characters, the narrative needs to adapt to the times. Soaps must balance their tenured characters with long histories and newcomers who have the opportunity to create new legacies.
New soaps can create new stars and new legacies: Daytime dramas have historically been known as launching pads for future Hollywood stars. Actress and singer Renée Elise Goldsberry portrayed the role of Evangeline Williamson on One Life to Live (2003-07). She gained stardom and acclaim for originating the role of Angelica Schuyler in the original Broadway production of the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical Hamilton (2015–16), for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Her other Broadway credits include Mimi Marquez in the 2008 Nederlander Theatre production of Rent (1996), Nettie Harris in the original cast of The Color Purple (2005), and Kate in the David Lindsay-Abaire play Good People (2011).
Actress Nia Long, best known for her work in Black cinema, starred as Katherine “Kat” Speakes on Guiding Light (1989-91). In primetime, Long found success in the role of Beullah "Lisa" Wilkes on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1991-5), and rose to prominence after starring in the film coming-of-age crime film Boyz n the Hood (1991). Recently, long portrayed the role of Katherine Jackson, the matriarch of the Jackson family, in the 2026 biographical film Michael (2026).
Actor, producer, and director Michael B. Jordan played the role of Reggie Montgomery on All My Children (2003-06), replacing the late Chadwick Boseman (1976-2020). He moved on to primetime with a role on the NBC sports drama Friday Night Light (2009-2011), before finding success in the film industry with roles in Creed (2015), Black Panther (2018), and Sinners (2025); the latter earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Jordan reprised his role as Donnie Creed in Creed II (2018) and Creed III (2023), the latter of which also marked his directorial debut.
Eva Longoria portrayed villainess Isabella Braña on The Young and the Restless (2001-03). Following the two-year stint, Longoria gained prominence for her breakthrough starring role as Gabrielle Solis on ABC’s Desperate Housewives (2004-2012). Longoria played the role of Gabrielle for all eight seasons and 180 episodes of the soap. She was widely considered the breakout star of the series, which featured a cast of established lead actresses save for Longoria. By the end of its run, Desperate Housewives became the longest-running American drama series to feature all-female leads, beating The WB’s Charmed (1998-2006) by two episodes.
Shemar Moore’s character on The Young and the Restless, Malcolm Winters, is one of the soap’s most legendary characters and a member of one of its integral families. Moore debuted in 1994 and portrayed the role until 2002, returning in 2004 before leaving for the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds (2005-2020; 2022-). After leaving Criminal Minds in 2017, Moore starred as Sergeant Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson on CBS’s action drama S.W.A.T. (2017–25). Moore has returned sporadically to The Young and the Restless since 2014. Most recently, Moore returned to the role of Malcolm in April 2026.
Vivica A. Fox played the roles of Carmen Silva on Days of Our Lives (1988), Maya Reubens on Generations (1989-1991), and Stephanie Simmons on The Young and the Restless (1994-96; 2026). Fox's breakthrough came in 1996, with roles in two box-office hit films, Roland Emmerich's Independence Day and F. Gary Gray's Set It Off. She made her directorial debut with the biographical crime film First Lady of BMF: The Tonesa Welch Story (2023).
The opportunity is bigger than nostalgia: The future of daytime doesn't depend on rebooting the classics. Soaps like All My Children, One Life to Live, and others are special because they captured specific moments in time and spoke to the audiences of their day, a daunting feat for actors and producers to accomplish twice. Rather, networks and streaming services must create new soap operas for the audiences of today, reflecting the world of 2026 and beyond. Don’t reboot the legacy. Build the next one.
