There Is Still Some Hope 'Dear White People' Fans

After a notable two-year absence, Dear White People has returned for another season (or "Volume," as the show likes to call them). After its production was delayed due to several positive COVID-19 tests among the team, the show began streaming the fourth installment on Netflix on Sept 22. 2021.

Based on the 2014 film of the same name, the show follows Samantha White as she and her fellow students of color try to navigate and combat growing racial tensions at the fictional Ivy League college of Winchester University.

The series has garnered critical acclaim for its sharp and progressive storytelling, as well as controversy from right-wing Twitter users for being "prejudiced against white people."

The new season takes place during the main characters' senior years, told through the lens of their future selves being reunited within a somewhat dystopian pandemic-savvy society. It also presents itself, surprisingly, as a '90s musical satire filled with catchy songs.

Creator Justin Simien has stated that he has always wanted to make the show musical since its inception.

"We've been wanting to do this musical episode from the beginning because the show always breaks into the surreality of someone's imagination," Justin said in an interview with Insider. "Breaking out into song at this point ... is not the strangest thing that has happened in the show."

Of course, with the series taking place during the characters' senior year, it inevitably marks the end of the students' journey at Winchester. Dear White People wasn't cancelled after Volume 4 — the show just reached a natural conclusion with its series finale.

It's rather appropriate for the show to be ending the way it is. Most prospective college students aim to graduate after four years, and the characters in Dear White People are poised to do just that in the new season.

Winchester was always the perfect backdrop for students facing racial conflict, so to extend the show beyond its walls wouldn't make much sense.

There's no telling if the show will ever continue in some way, shape, or form. With the coronavirus pandemic still affecting production on just about everything, it's lucky to have gotten an ending at all.

The latest volume of Dear White People lasts 10 episodes, exactly as long as its predecessors. Each episode is about 30 to 40 minutes long and seeks to tie up all the loose ends left behind from season 3. all in one theatrical package.

As Samantha and her friends prepare to graduate college, AP House announces their plans to produce Winchester's Varsity Show in order to showcase the talents of the Black community on campus using one of the university's time-honored traditions.

Between deadlines, drama, and looming conspiracy, Samantha White's time at Winchester will most certainly go out with a bang, and the consequences of her actions will extend far into the future.

Stream all episodes of Dear White People on Netflix now.