Wendy Raquel Robinson: 'The Game' revival has 'a little hot sauce'

LOS ANGELES Nov. 11 (UPI) -- The Game star Wendy Raquel Robinson said streaming on Paramount+ allows the show revival to be edgier.

The original series, which ran from 2006 to 2015, aired for three seasons on The CW and then six more on BET.

"The writers have been very clever in how to do it and not to overuse the language," Robinson said. "Keeping all the artistic integrity of everything that was there before, but just adding a little hot sauce here and there."

The Game followed the lives of the wives and girlfriends of pro football players. The Paramount+ series shows where their lives are now.

Stars Robinson and Hosea Chanchez said the revival, premiering Thursday, finds their characters' lives changed.

Robinson, 54, returns as sports manager Tasha Mack. Robinson said she thought about how the character raised her youngest daughter between 2015 and 2021.

"I know myself personally how I've grown, but there's still parts of my life where I've stayed stagnant," Robinson said on a recent Television Critics Association Zoom panel. "I want to bring all of that to Tasha Mack."

Tasha's son, Malik Wright (Chanchez), was hoping to retire from football and become a team owner. In the new series. Malik learns he is expected to play quarterback for another season.

"The world is such a different place for all of us," Chanchez, 40, said. "Our characters are all different because we all live in the real world. Even if it's imaginary, it's still real."

Paramount+ announced Pooch Hall and Brittany Daniel would make special appearances reprising their roles as wide receiver Derwin Davis and Kelly Pitts, respectively. Kelly's daughter, Brittany Pitts, now played by 33-year-old Adriyan Rae, is working for Tasha's company.

"She might just say some things that, clearly, you're not supposed to say, but she'll say it without thinking because it's the truth and it's real," Rae said. "That's what she gets from Jason."

Rae said Brittany takes after her mother in other respects.

"She's like the nurturer, loves cats and wants to help," Rae said. "She gets that from Kelly."

Real-life running back Vaughn W. Hebron, 51, joins The Game as Jamison Fields. Hebron said Jamison reflects his own athletic past.

"He had been a D1 athlete, a running back," Hebron said. "I'm a D1 running back. The way that he trains, the way that he works out, it definitely reminded me of myself."

Although Chanchez plays a quarterback, the actor said he is not athletic in real life. Chanchez said his younger brothers played basketball and football respectively.

"I was the least athletic," Chanchez said. "I knew at 5 I was going to be an actor."

Even though Brittany works in management, Rae said she has an athletic background.

"I played Junior Olympics for field hockey," Rae said. "I ran track, I did triple jump, long jump. Hurdles was my event."

New episodes of The Game premiere Thursdays.