‘BMF’ season 4 boasts more action and brings back old faces

The new season of this Detroit crime drama premieres Friday on Starz

By Kahn Santori Davison

Jun 5, 2025 at 9:15 am

Image: Da’Vinchi and Demetrius Flenory Jr. return as the Black Mafia Family brothers in BMF.

Da’Vinchi and Demetrius Flenory Jr. return as the Black Mafia Family brothers in BMF. Starz

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The last time we saw brothers Terry and Meech Flenory — the main characters of Starz’s crime drama BMF, based on the real-life story of Detroit’s notorious Black Mafia Family — they were arguing in a Mexican desert about continuing with a plan to break fellow drug dealer Loco out of prison. Older brother Terry was freaking out in an anxiety-filled rant about getting caught when Meech cut him off. “T, when the fuck we ever cared about the laws?” he confidently said. “We always ran by our own rules and stuck to our own playbook because there’s no turning back. It’s our time now.”

The start of season 4 of Starz’s BMF, which premieres at 9 p.m. on Froday, picks up a little bit past that point as the brothers and a newly freed Loco are running zig-zag through that same Mexican desert avoiding showers of bullets.

“It was like Stranger Things, we’re kids on a crazy mission,” Da’Vinchi, who plays Terry, tells Metro Times via a video call with other cast and crew.

The debacle in the desert isn’t fully told in the first episode, but used as an intriguing flashback and framing device as each episode gives a bit more insight into the precarious adventure. Despite the story feeling far-fetched, it’s actually based on true events.

“[It] set up a great mystery and we were able to do this prophecy for our heroes,” says executive producer and showrunner Heather Zuhlke. “Randy [Huggins, former showrunner and creator] alway loved the Mexico story, he always wanted to do it, and we even had played around with doing it in season 3.”

Outside of Meech and Terry’s growing narcotics empire, the season starts by diving into the rest of the Flenory family’s ambitions. Patriarch Charles (Russell Hornsby) is preparing to go on tour with a band, mother Lucille (Michole White) is pursuing evangelical endeavors, and little sister Nicole (Laila Pruitt) is nearing her high school graduation.

“We are setting everyone’s goals and then we’re going to rip the rug out from everybody and have the audience lose their minds, and create a bunch of exciting new memes for us, too,” Zhulke says with a smile.

Image: Made-in-Detroit Starz crime drama ‘BMF’ is all about family

Made-in-Detroit Starz crime drama ‘BMF’ is all about family: As it heads into its second season, the hit TV series gets a real-life Motor City story right

This season’s biggest surprise is the return of friend B-Mickie (Myles Truitt) and foe Lamar (Eric Kofi-Abrefa). Lamar was the Flenory brothers’ primary adversary in seasons 1 and 2, while B-Mickie was ousted from BMF’s inner circle for betrayal in season 2. Truitt says he was excited when asked to return to his former role and was more than ready to jump back into character.

“It was a blessing!” he says. “Honestly, me and mom, we got the call in the kitchen right when I got home off a flight.”

“It feels very nostalgic to have Kofi, Da’Vinchi, Meech, and Myles back on set together,” adds Zhulke. “Those were highly emotional days because that’s how it all started. The show started with those guys. Those are characters that Randy created from the beginning.”

Much like the real life story of BMF, season 4 will show the brothers’ comradery as they start their own record label but also dig deep into the tension that grows between the two as Terry focuses on business operations in Detroit while Meech continues his Atlanta expansion.

Even though the series is no longer partially filmed in Detroit, images of the RenCen can still be seen and there is even a character that says he attends Wayne State University. Both Zhulke and Da’Vinchi say season 4 will treat fans to much more action and adventure than the previous three seasons combined.

“This is like a 007, John Wick, Mission Impossible,” says Da’Vinchi. “The action this season is fire.”

Slideshow

The best Detroit moments from ‘BMF’ season 2 [PHOTOS]

Coney Island restaurants (throughout the series) Just like in real life, Coney Island diners are like a character in the BMF series, where you’ll find coney dogs — and also drug deals, meet-ups, sex, and shootouts.

Episode 1: The Raven Lounge In episode one, K-9 invites Meech to a business dinner at the historic Raven Lounge, which opened in 1966 by Sam Watts and prides itself on being Detroit’s oldest blue’s bar. The club was created “to give up-and-coming Motown [talent] a place to play,” owner Tommy Stephens told National Geographic “It’s where stars came to listen to the blues.” Those stars included B.B. King, Diana Ross, Martha Reeves, and Smokey Robinson.

Episode 1: Chinatown “My sister and I used to ride our bikes all over the place when Chinatown was still around,” detective Jin (played by Kelly Hu) tells her partner during a car ride. “And then they started displacing us to the Cass Corridor…” The Chinatown comment speaks to the city’s Chinese-American community, which government leaders in Detroit unsuccessfully tried to relocate in the 1950s. It by far wasn’t one of Detroit’s finer moments, and oftentimes gets overlooked at how it impacted Detroit’s Asian-American community. “I remember doing the research on that and how they really just got rid of Chinatown. They tried to move it to another area, and it never really stuck, and so much of the gentrification of Detroit started during that period,” Hu tells Metro Times.

Episode 3: Devil’s Night/Angel’s Night Episode 3 starts off by giving viewers an oral and visual history of Devil’s Night fire-starters in Detroit, but also sees Charles Flenoy (Russell Hornsby) with his two sons (younger versions of Meech and Terry) chasing a would-be arsonist away. “These things are saying, ‘Hey, we’re taking our city back, we’re here to protect our residents, our people, we’re here to keep everybody safe,’” Hornsby tells Metro Times. “I think things like that are needed all across the country. Detroit’s going to take something negative and turn it into a positive and it’s a beautiful thing.”

Episode 3: Gators In episode 3, Alvin (played by Donnell Rawlings) watches Lamar (played by Eric Kofi-Abrefa) remove a deceased man’s gator shoes off his feet and put them on. “I know you ain’t thinking about taking a dead man’s gators nigga … you can’t do that, it’s a violation,” Alvin says in the episode. The clip is a testament to when alligator skin shoes were a mainstay in Detroit’s fashion culture. When asked about it, Donnell Rawlings tells Metro Times, “To me, a pair of shoes is a pair of shoes, but what made me think of how important it was, was the Biggie Smalls line: ‘Pink gators, my Detroit players.’ And so for Biggie to acknowledge that and to know how important it is to establish that’s what Detroit is about, there had to be significance to it,” he says.

Episode 3: The Roostertail Terry Flenory (played by Da’Vinci) and Markisha Taylor (Played by LaLa Anthony) have dinner at the historic Roostertail. Although now mostly utilized as a space to host weddings, proms, and parties, the 65-year-old riverfront venue was once the preferred destination for private events among Detroit’s performers, politicians, and upper class. Elton John, Ted Nugent, Bob Seger, Stevie Wonder, and many Motown acts have had events and concerts held at the Roostertail.

Episode 4: Maserati Rick Terry references famous Detroit crime figure Maserati Rick as he’s getting Meech out of the hospital. “This ain’t ‘bout to be no Maserati Rick repeat,” he says during the scene. Notorious drug crime boss Richard “Maserati Rick” Carter was murdered inside of his hospital room at Mt. Carmel Mercy Hospital on September 12, 1988. Two days earlier, he had been shot in the stomach. On Sept. 16, 1988 Carter was famously buried in a Mercedes Benz casket at Peace Chapel.

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About The Author

Kahn Santori Davison

Kahn Santori Davison is from Detroit, Michigan. He's a husband and father of four and a self-described, "Kid who loves rap music." He's been featured on Hip-Hop Evolution and Hip-Hop Uncovered. He's also a Cave Canem fellow, author of the poetry book Blaze (Willow Books), a recipient of a 2015 Kresge Literary...