Angela Lewis portrays the smart-mouthed unapologetic Aunt Louie in the FX drama “Snowfall.” When Lewis joined the show in season one, her role was limited to supporting her longtime lover Jermone Saint, played by Amin Joseph.
Set in the 1980s, the beloved series follows Franklin Saint, played by Damson Idris, as he navigates the crack epidemic in South Central Los Angeles.
After six seasons, the “Snowfall” saga has finally come to an end, and viewers will find out who was supposed to make it to the end.
ABS spoke with Lewis about embracing her villainous character, her real-life friendships with Joseph and Idris, and other show predictions ahead of the season finale.
Lewis said she prepared to close Louie’s chapter in a “beautiful” way. She dealt with more emotions this season than others after finding out she was pregnant with her second child while filming the latter half of the final season — similarly to filming when she was pregnant with her first child during season 3 in 2019.
“Louie’s story does not tie up in a nice neat bow, and I think that’s a beautiful thing and I think all of our characters whether their endings are bitter or sweet,” she shared. “They are fighting the fight of their mhmm mhmm lives till the end, and that for me is huge and I’m really proud of that.”
According to her, the grand finale will truly highlight Idris’ growth as an actor with a bright future. She said fans can expect “a lot of Franklin in this finale episode, and he just murders it. I’m really proud of him.”
In episode 6 of this season, Louie was kidnapped and held hostage after Franklin provided details of her whereabouts to Kane, who was shot last season by Buckley, the crooked cop she works with. Considering Louie’s evolution from house cook to drug kingpin, it was an unusual sight. But she admitted even for her it was “pretty intense.”
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“I was feeling grateful that I had done my prep work in terms of my energetic prep work. In terms of doing my meditation and my white light coverings to protect myself from the trauma that Louie was experiencing,” said the pregnant actress.
Louie was slapped, beaten, and had her clothes torn off inside a warehouse occupied by Kane and his drug associates. During the episode, Franklin was called to come and kill her himself, but he declined.
“I think it was always in the plan for her to join the family business. It was not always the plan for her to take over … for her to become as big as she was,” she laughed. “I think the aim was to make sure she was smart and that she could always see eye to eye with Franklin.”
The two still have bad blood after Louie and Jerome decided to start going directly to the plug, Teddy, for their drugs instead of buying from Franklin. “He thinks he can scream on everybody and it’s OK. And it’s like you can scream if you want to, but I’m not gon’ be standing here taking it too much longer,” Lewis emphasized.
To hurt their business, Franklin stole $3.4 million in cash and product that was kept in their stash house. Their items were never returned, but as an act of what some call good faith, Franklin called on Jerome, Leon, played by Isaiah John, and others to help rescue Louie without getting killed.
The scene closed with a standoff between Kane and Jerome, though neither made it out alive. Louie sobbed uncontrollably over Jerome’s dead body as Leon and Franklin took a moment of silence.
Lewis described how it was “sad” returning to set without her on-screen husband in spaces meant for them both, such as the house they bought just before the wedding.
“It felt so crazy to be in this house that was supposed to be Louie and Jerome’s house without Amin,” she said. “It was really sad and they had a big portrait from Louie and Jerome’s wedding up on the wall. And it had all the wedding gifts, and it was just like where is Amin?”
Episode 7 was even more emotional as viewers watched the Saint family and friends gather for Jerome’s funeral. Before his death, Jerome was adamant about leaving the drug game for good, though Louie felt she still had unfinished business to handle.
“At any point he could have walked away. Now I do think Louie could have heard him more,” she admitted. “I think Louie knew that this business was not his strong suit, and so she’s like ‘but just hang in there.'”
She then reflected on her character in season 2, when she attempted to leave the family business. When Franklin asked her to come back, her character said, “Life is opening up for me.”
“And I think that’s what Louie wanted,” Lewis said. “She wanted to experience life in its fullness, in its greatness.”
Because she decided to continue selling drugs, fans and critics on social media declared Louie as the show’s villain.
“I don’t mind that she’s viewed as the villain. What I do mind is kind of the reasons why people are not happy with Louie because I think they are unjustified,” said Lewis. “I think people are experiencing the story, I guess, as they should because that’s a testament to our writers making our lead character Franklin sympathetic even though he is a monster.
“He has turned into a monster,” she continued. “He’s been a monster for a while now, but people think that they are Franklin, so they take certain things very personally.”
As she prepares to welcome her second child, Lewis said, “The biggest thing I take away from Louie is her power. Her ability to live in her power, to say what she wants, what she doesn’t. To have a vision and be able to articulate that and go after it unabatingly.”
The “Snowfall ” season finale airs tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern Time on FX. New episodes are released on Hulu the following day.
