Hit the Floor S4 Preview: The Newbies and Returning Characters 

WARNING: Hit the Floor spoilers

Hit the Floor takes center stage and center court tonight when it returns to the small screen after an almost two-year absence. While the essence of the series stays the same, expect some changes due to actors taking on other gigs during the long hiatus.

We talked to creator James LaRosa about the characters who are returning and the ones new to the scene.

“For the people that aren’t coming [back], it was tough, emotionally for me, on one level. Because I love all of my characters and I am as invested in them as the audience. So to want to see a particular storyline continue and then suddenly you find out that you can’t, can be disappointing.”

The extended transition time presented him with both challenges and opportunities.

“What it does allow you do is introduce new characters who have a different energy and can bring something new to both the show and the characters who came back,” LaRosa said. “I’m so grateful to have Logan [Browning] and McKinley [Freeman] and Brent [Antonello] and Jodi [Lyn O’Keefe], and Kat [Bailess] and Jonathan [‘Lil J’ McDaniel] and Dean [Cain].”

He said he wanted to give these returning characters stories that made it worth their while. He wanted to reward them and thank them for their presence in the fourth season.

“And so, they all have killer stories, and with some, new characters bring a different energy out of them,” he previewed. “I’m able to take Derek in a particular direction, take Jude in a particular direction with the changes that were made. Were they fun changes to make? No. But I have had the time to mourn them that the fans have not.”

“I know what season four is, and I’m extremely excited by it,” LaRosa added. “And I think they’ll really enjoy it.”

Meet the Newbies

LaRosa gave the rundown on the season’s new characters.

Teyana Taylor is London

“A lot of characters come to Devils Arena looking to shine, looking for success, looking for ambition and wanting to create themselves.”

London, we find her already fully created. She’s already a success story, she’s already the best choreographer in the game, but she has suffered a sex scandal, so when we find her, she is essentially in hiding. And so her storyline this season, really, how is she going to claw out of that and take some of that power back and what obstacles might be in the way of that? She’s kind of our Hester Prynne from Scarlet Letter this season of Hit the Floor, which we’ve never had, which is great.

My job is to give, no, my job is to look at the monitor and nitpick, and when [Teyana] danced for the first time in the first episode, I was just watching her and I was really forgetting that my job was to pick it apart. My job was to make sure that the dance was great, that the lighting on the dance was great, that I had it framed properly. I lost my entire perspective and was just watching this woman dance, because she’s so elemental, she’s so raw, and she just pulls you in.”

Kyndall Ferguson is Jamie

“Jamie is someone who is looking for that shine. The Devil Girls have been the launching pad for characters like Ahsha or for characters like Jelena, who became stars off it, and so, with Ahsha not on the team, and these vacancies, she comes along, because if someone’s name’s going to be up in lights then why not hers? She’s a gal on a mission.”

Tiffany Hines is Eve

“Eve is very intelligent, she is fierce, she knows herself, and I absolutely love her. I love strong women, and she definitely is a really formidable presence this season. She works the league and she has ties that we sort of get into in the season, but she really doesn’t generally take s–t from people, and we have seen in the super trailer that she also likes to have fun, and perhaps has a little fun with another one of our female characters.”

Cort King is Pax

“Pax is a rookie who represents someone who, how do I say? His eyes are a bit wide coming into this world. The life of a baller, the money of a baller. Everything is just so otherworldly, and it’s very dazzling. He’s a guy that has a soul, he’s a guy that has a compass, and when you walk through the tour of Devil’s Arena, your compass gets out of whack, and you’re challenged, and you have all these temptations that are right in front of you.

Pax is someone who I think the audience is going to love, because he’s just kind of a lovely guy who is in a situation that is like, ‘How lovely can you be for how long?’ His story is a struggle.”

Kristian Kordula is Noah

“Noah is a new sideline reporter. ISN — Inside Sports Network — has always been a presence on Hit the Floor, and this season, it comes front and center. Lionel actually comes to own ISN, and Noah is someone who doesn’t come with a censor button. He’s got great energy, he’s got a great smile. I think he is someone who is very unapologetic about who he is. I don’t think he knows to apologize even if it crossed his mind.

He’s just a fun guy, and I think if audiences have seen the super trailer, they see that he interacts with Jude, and really, Jude’s romantic history has been very fraught and very heavy, and it had to be. You’re dealing with characters that are coming out of the closet, coming out of hiding. That’s not Noah.

Noah doesn’t have any of that baggage, and so it will be fun to see when he interacts with Jude, what that brings out of Jude and Brent, who plays Jude. It’s just a different energy and that’s going to be exciting for fans to see.”

New Rivalry Alert

One season four rivalry that we can tease: the one that’s about to exist between London and Jamie. According to LaRosa:

“Everyone on Hit the Floor is ambitious. Every character wants something, and unfortunately for London and Jamie, they both want the same thing, and when you’re dealing with strong people, that could maybe prove a problem. There’s only one top spot, and so we will get to see how these two women interact with each other, what they’re willing to do, what they’re not willing to do, and Teyana and Kyndall are friends in real life, so it’s fun to play that dynamic.”

The fourth season of Hit the Floor gets underway tonight at 10/9c on BET.