---
title: "The Other Black Girl"
year: 2023
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/the-other-black-girl"
fi1m_id: "the-other-black-girl"
imdb_id: "tt21365986"
tmdb_id: 209727
wikidata_id: "Q115974007"
fi1m_score: 66
critics_score: 74
critics_reviews: 7
published: "2026-10-07T19:28:28.669037+00:00"
updated: "2026-10-07T19:28:29.249206+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Other Black Girl (2023)

Created by Zakiya Dalila Harris, Rashida Jones · MPA TV-MA · Drama, Comedy

## Identity

The Other Black Girl

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/the-other-black-girl
- **Type:** Series
- **Fi1m ID:** the-other-black-girl
- **IMDb ID:** tt21365986
- **TMDB ID:** 209727
- **Wikidata ID:** Q115974007
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21365986/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/209727, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q115974007

**Fi1m score: 66** · Critics 74 from 7 reviews

*In a sentence:* A thriller in which the most frightening sentence anyone says is ‘we’re so glad to have you’

> Zakiya Dalila Harris and Rashida Jones’s adaptation of Harris’s novel is sharp and funny about being the only Black assistant in a white publishing house, and Sinclair Daniel is a find. The thriller underneath is foggy, and ten episodes is more than it needs.

## Synopsis

Nella (Sinclair Daniel) is an editorial assistant at Wagner Books, a publishing house, and for two years she has been the only Black employee on her floor. She reads manuscripts for her editor Vera Parini (Bellamy Young), waits for a promotion that never comes, and goes home to her boyfriend Owen (Hunter Parrish) and her friend Malaika (Brittany Adebumola), who thinks she should quit. Then Hazel (Ashleigh Murray) is hired: another Black assistant, confident and within a week better liked than Nella has managed in two years. Nella tells a star author that the one Black character in his novel is a stereotype, and the meeting turns against her. A note appears on her desk telling her to leave. Hazel is the obvious ally, and the obvious suspect.

## Review

Zakiya Dalila Harris published *The Other Black Girl* as a novel in 2021, and she has adapted it for television with Rashida Jones as a workplace comedy that keeps turning into a paranoid thriller and back again. Nella (Sinclair Daniel) has been an editorial assistant at Wagner Books for two years, the only Black person on her floor, and she has learned to smile through a great deal. Then a second Black assistant, Hazel (Ashleigh Murray), is hired, and Nella’s relief lasts about a day. The series is decent and often very funny. It is better at the office than at the conspiracy, and the conspiracy is what it has been building towards.

Daniel is the reason to watch. She plays Nella as someone who has swallowed so many reactions that her face has a half-second delay on it, and she is funniest in meetings, where we can see her decide whether to say the thing and then say it anyway. The scene in which she tells a white star author that his new book’s Black character is a stereotype made us laugh out loud and then wince, because the camera stays on her as the meeting goes quiet and every white face turns to see how she will take being wrong. Earlier, when Hazel is walked round the office on her first morning and every colleague lights up, Daniel does nothing at all, and the two lonely years before this arrive in one shot.

Murray is good too, and the show’s best trick is that Hazel works as both friend and threat. She wears her locs with pride, speaks to Vera Parini (Bellamy Young) as an equal, gets a column written about the firm’s new diversity, and is simply better at the game than Nella has ever let herself be. Murray plays her warmly enough that we kept changing our minds about her, which is exactly what the series wants. Brittany Adebumola, as Malaika, is the sceptical friend who says what we are thinking, and she is sharp, though the writing uses her mostly as somewhere for Nella to think aloud.

Mariama Diallo, who directs, keeps the Wagner offices bright and over-lit, all glass walls and white desks, so that nobody can be alone and nobody is ever quite looked at. Eric McCormack’s Richard Wagner, the founder, glides through it being avuncular. Young’s Vera is the sharper creation: a boss who praises Nella’s instincts and then overrules every one of them, and whose smile we found more unsettling than anything the thriller plot produces. EmmoLei Sankofa’s score helps here, dropping a low string note under ordinary office chat so that a compliment lands like a warning. The satire of publishing is specific and well observed, from the panel on diversity to the way the word ‘fit’ is used.

The trouble is the other series running underneath. The notes on Nella’s desk, the hints about hair, a history that seems to stretch back decades: all of this is dealt out slowly for several episodes and then explained in a hurry, and we will not describe where it goes. What we can say is that the explanation is less frightening than the hints were, and that the tone wobbles badly once the show has to stage its horror rather than suggest it. Ten episodes is too many. Hunter Parrish’s Owen, Nella’s well-meaning white boyfriend, gets scenes that exist to fill time, and Garcelle Beauvais, as a novelist Nella has idolised since she was a girl, is given a strand that promises more than it delivers.

The comparison nobody can avoid is [*Get Out*](https://film.one/film/get-out), and the series knows it. It is working the same ground, the horror of being welcomed, and it is honest about the debt. But *Get Out* explained its mechanism once, cleanly, in under two hours. This takes ten episodes to get there and is vaguer when it arrives.

All ten episodes landed together on 13 September 2023, and we would not advise taking them that way. Watch the first three. If Daniel has you by then, stay for her, and treat the thriller as weather. If it is the notes on the desk you are waiting for, you will be waiting longer than the show can justify.

*Fi1m score 66, published 7 October 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews lean warmly positive, and almost every one of them lands on the same name. Sinclair Daniel’s performance as Nella is the thing critics agree on: anxious, layered, and good at showing the loneliness and slow suspicion of being the only Black woman in the office. Ashleigh Murray draws praise from two reviews for sharpness opposite her. Most critics also find the workplace satire the series’ strongest material, and call the whole thing entertaining even when they are less sure what it adds up to.

The reservations cluster around the tonal mix. Several reviews say the comedy and the thriller never quite sit together, with the supernatural strand the weaker of the two and sometimes confusing. The spread is fairly narrow, but The Guardian is the clear outlier, arguing that the horror blunts rather than sharpens the show’s handling of anti-Blackness. The Hollywood Reporter notes that the first season leaves plot threads hanging, which others treat as an invitation rather than a fault.

## Straight answers

**Is The Other Black Girl worth watching?**

*The Other Black Girl* is worth watching for Sinclair Daniel's performance and its sharp, funny satire of a white publishing house, and we scored it 66. The thriller running underneath is foggy and ten episodes is more than it needs. Watch the first three; if Daniel has you by then, stay for her and treat the conspiracy as weather.

**How long is The Other Black Girl, and what is it rated?**

*The Other Black Girl* is rated TV-MA by the MPA in the US. It is a drama and comedy series.

**Where can I watch The Other Black Girl in the US?**

*The Other Black Girl* is streaming on Hulu and Disney+ in the US. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How violent or frightening is The Other Black Girl, and is it suitable for children?**

*The Other Black Girl* is rated TV-MA in the United States and has no UK certificate, which places it as adult viewing rather than for children. The frightening material is mostly suggestion: anonymous notes, hints, an office smile that lands like a warning. Once the show has to stage its horror rather than imply it, the tone wobbles, and it is unsettling more than it is violent.

**How does The Other Black Girl compare to Sorry to Bother You?**

*The Other Black Girl* and [*Sorry to Bother You*](https://film.one/film/sorry-to-bother-you) both satirise being Black in a white workplace, but Boots Riley's film goes much further and much stranger, and commits to it. The series is gentler, funnier about publishing specifically, and better at the office than at its own conspiracy. Choose the film if you want the bolder, tighter piece; choose the series if you want ten hours in Sinclair Daniel's company.

**What should I watch after The Other Black Girl?**

After *The Other Black Girl*, try [*Sorry to Bother You*](https://film.one/film/sorry-to-bother-you) (2018, Fi1m 81): Boots Riley’s office satire goes much further and much stranger, and commits to it. Then [*Master*](https://film.one/film/the-master) (2022, Fi1m 84): Mariama Diallo’s own film: a Black academic, a white college, and a quieter dread.

### Reviews we read (7)

- **IndieWire**, Proma Khosla (B+): Khosla finds the series a faithful, gripping, and entertaining adaptation that leaves viewers wanting more. She especially praises Sinclair Daniel’s commanding performance as Nella. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/the-other-black-girl-review-hulu-1234904936/)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Angie Han (78/100, inferred): Han finds the series wildly entertaining, blending workplace satire, horror and office politics into an engaging story. She praises Sinclair Daniel’s nuanced performance, while noting that the first season leaves some plot threads unresolved. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/the-other-black-girl-review-hulu-1235587722/)
- **The AV Club**, Christina Izzo (B): The review finds the workplace satire more compelling than the supernatural thriller, though the series remains entertaining. It praises the captivating cast, especially Sinclair Daniel’s portrayal of Nella’s loneliness and dawning suspicion. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/the-other-black-girl-review-tv-hulus-thriller-1850814376)
- **Variety**, Aramide Tinubu (70/100, inferred): Tinubu finds the series clever and engaging overall, despite some confusing mystical elements. She praises Ashleigh Murray’s sharp performance and the show’s distinctive blend of comedy, horror, and Black women’s perspectives. [Read](https://variety.com/2023/tv/reviews/the-other-black-girl-review-hulu-1235710054/)
- **The Guardian**, Gloria Oladipo (60/100, inferred): Oladipo finds the series mostly entertaining but blunt, with its workplace satire and horror often muddling the realities of anti-Blackness. She praises Sinclair Daniel’s anxious, layered performance and the show’s examination of the sacrifices involved in getting ahead. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/sep/13/the-other-black-girl-hulu-review-zakiya-dalila-harris)
- **Paste**, Kathryn Porter (8.5/10): Porter calls the series a fun, solid adaptation despite its failure to balance comedy and thriller elements. She praises the cast, especially the performances of Sinclair Daniels and Ashleigh Murray. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/hulu/the-other-black-girl-review)
- **Digital Spy**, Janet A Leigh (70/100, inferred): The series is absorbing despite failing to deliver much suspense or effective comedy. The review praises its nuanced portrayal of the everyday pressures and discrimination Black women face at work. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a45117749/other-black-girl-review/)

## Details

- **Created by:** Zakiya Dalila Harris, Rashida Jones
- **Creator:** Zakiya Dalila Harris, Rashida Jones
- **Director:** Mariama Diallo
- **Writer:** Zakiya Dalila Harris, Rashida Jones
- **Music:** EmmoLei Sankofa
- **Cast:** Sinclair Daniel as Nella; Ashleigh Murray as Hazel; Brittany Adebumola as Malaika; Hunter Parrish as Owen; Bellamy Young as Vera Parini; Eric McCormack as Richard Wagner; Garcelle Beauvais; Alyshia Ochse as Maisy
- **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA
- **Release (the US):** 13 September 2023
- **Genres:** Drama, Comedy

## Where to watch in the US

- Hulu: streaming, uhd
- Disney+: add-on, uhd

*Checked 2026-10-07.*

Also available in: AR, AU, BR, CA, CL, CO, EC, HK, IN, JP, KR, MX, NZ, PA, PE, SG, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *Sorry to Bother You* (2018), Fi1m 81: Boots Riley’s office satire goes much further and much stranger, and commits to it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/sorry-to-bother-you.md)
- *The Stepford Wives* (1975): The original smiling-community horror, where being welcomed is the first warning sign.
- *Master* (2022), Fi1m 84: Mariama Diallo’s own film: a Black academic, a white college, and a quieter dread. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-master.md)
- *Atlanta* (2016): Comedy that turns surreal without warning, and is sharper about race than most dramas.
- *Industry* (2020): Young hires, a glass-walled office, and a promotion ladder that costs more than it pays.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/the-other-black-girl