Kid Cudi and Issa Rae are styling parents in the first Young Love trailer
In 2020, ex-NFL player Matthew A. Cherry won an Oscar for his animated short film Hair Love, about a devoted Black father who tries to learn how to style his young daughter's hair. Now, that story is coming to the small screen with the Max animated series Young Love.
Cherry and supervising director Mark Davis stopped by San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday to unveil the first clip from the series, which stars Kid Cudi and Issa Rae as the parents of 6-year-old Zuri (voiced by newcomer Brooke Monroe Conway). Like the short it's based on, Young Love is an adorable ode to parenthood and a celebration of Black hair, and the first trailer follows Zuri as she begs her parents for a stylish, red-carpet-worthy look.
"The great thing about animation is that you can tell a story that's specific but universal," Cherry told the crowd. "It has themes of being a parent, being a young child trying to make your way through the world, being a grandparent trying to deal with ageism. The packaging is obviously very specific because we're dealing with a young Black family in Chicago. But the themes are universal."
Cherry and Davis opened up about how one of the goals of the original short was to help young Black children celebrate their hair and combat harmful stereotypes. (The short was later adapted into a children's picture book.) The series will expand the story to focus on Zuri's entire family, but hair will remain a major element of the show.
Davis explained that the crew paid particular attention to how hair was depicted on screen, exploring dozens of different kinds of hair textures and styles — right down to individual strands.
"We spent hours and weeks trying to get the hair right," Davis said. "In 2-D animation, we really haven't seen anything like this. I think when it comes out, people are going to be blown away by how realistic and cool it looks."
Young Love will debut on Max this fall. Watch the trailer above.
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