Showmax has just dropped the first trailer for Adulting, an eight-part 18SN drama premiering on 20 March 2023, with new episodes every Monday.
Adulting is the first Showmax Original from Tshedza Pictures, the production company behind the International Emmy-nominated telenovela The River and the SAFTA Best TV Drama winner The Republic. Tshedza Pictures’ co-founders Phathu Makwarela and Gwydion Beynon have won five Best Scriptwriting SAFTA awards in the last four years.
Set in Johannesburg, Adulting explores the parallel universes of four varsity friends. Their strong bond has held them together even as their journeys in life have taken them in very different directions. “Theirs is the bromance of the decade,” says Phathu.
Thembinkosi Mthembu (Mabutho in The River, Junior in The Republic, and King Dingiswayo in the upcoming epic Shaka iLembe) stars as successful businessman Bonga, with Luthando BU Mthembu (Big Brother Mzansi, Ayeye: Stripped, Redemption) as toy-boy Vuyani, Thabiso Rammutsi (The Suit) as cheating family man Mpho, and Nhanhla Kunene (Lavish, Muvhango) as hot-headed bad-boy Eric.
Also look out for the likes of SAFTA nominee Winnie Ntshaba (The Herd, House of Zwide, Generations) and Sikelelwa Vuyeleni (Hope, House of Zwide) as Vuyani’s sugar mamma and Eric’s baby mamma respectively; Lungile Duma (The River, Durban Gen) as Mpho’s wife; and Buhle Samuels (Kings of Jo’burg, One Night KwaMxolisi) and newcomer Londeka Shishi as Bonga’s love interests.
Jumping from amapiano clubs to G-Wagon showrooms and from bedrooms to boardrooms, this season also features Dr Fezile Mkhize, former Mr World South Africa; 2022 DSTV Mzansi Viewers’ Choice Best Actress nominee Dele Malinga (Umkhokha); SAFTA nominee Lindani Nkosi (Housekeepers); and Comics’ Choice nominee Isaac Gampu. 2022 BET Best International Act nominee Major League DJz and 2022 Basadi Amapiano Artist of the Year Boohle have cameos, as do the likes of Mohale Motaung and photographer Austin Malema.
“We wanted to root the show in Joburg pop culture right now,” says MultiChoice Talent Factory graduate Thembalethu Mfebe (Legacy), who shares directing duties with Menga Nhlabathi (eHostela, Umkhokha).
“There’s so much creative freedom in working with Showmax, who have broadened the landscape of what’s being made on South African TV,” says Phathu. “You haven’t seen anything like Adulting before.”
Adulting is the first of two Showmax Originals from Tshedza this year. The second, Outlaws, is a cross-cultural love story of epic proportions, which plays out in the dangerous world of cattle theft syndicates, in the lawless land on the border between Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal. Outlaws is expected to premiere first on Showmax towards the end of 2023.
Watch the trailer:
