Tracee Ellis Ross thinks “the ship has sailed” for ‘Girlfriends’ reboot

ABC/Lorenzo Bevilaqua

Tracee Ellis Ross has taken on a few roles throughout the course of her career, but her hope of reprising fan-favorite Joan Carol Clayton, from the 2000s sitcom Girlfriends, has dwindled down. In an interview with VIBE, she revealed her thoughts on whether the series would be making a comeback.

“The cast has always wanted to do it, but I’ll be honest with you, the ship has sailed,” Tracee said. “I don’t think it’s ever going to happen. I think it would be a miracle.”

Though she and cast mates Golden Brooks, Persia White and Jill Marie Jones “text all the time,” she says she thinks they’re “all at different places in our lives and our careers now.”

“I think there was a point 10 years ago when they [Girlfriends cast] came on Blackish and we were all game, but we couldn’t get the powers that be to get on board,” she explained. “We’ve tried numerous times as a cast to make it happen, but unfortunately, we don’t own the rights to the show.”

“We are not the producers. We are not Mara Brock Akil, CBS Paramount, or whoever the people are that own the show. Golden, Persia, Jill, Reggie [Hayes], and I have been game,” she continued. “We’ve all talked about it — but I genuinely don’t think it’s ever going to happen at this point.”

Tracee notes she was once “broken-hearted” by the show’s cancellation, but the cast is just “happy that the audience still loves the show, and still wants it, but I don’t think it’s ever going to happen.”

Girlfriends, about four Black women who face life’s ups and downs together, ran for eight seasons, from 2000 to 2008.