Award-winning South African actor, Nimrod Nkosi returns to screens as a hotshot attorney in Showmax’s new series, “Law, Love and Betrayal”.
The drama is centred on a township lawyer hell-bent on making her mark at the elite, family-run firm, Gumede & Associates, helmed by Gatshe Gumede (Nkosi).
He is powerful, well-connected and ruthless, stopping at nothing that gets in his way.
“He is a man of great traditional values, a man respected by his peers, an award-winning lawyer, a man that’s an expert in constitutional law, a man that won’t take no for an answer and who loves law more than anything else in his life.
“He can be a ruthless man, but he is a father as well. He doesn’t have a perfect family and he has accepted it. Whether or not he wants to make things perfect, remains to be seen as the story and character develops,” Nkosi shared.
Other cast members include Dineo Rasedile, who plays Gugu Mabaso, a township lawyer, and Pearl Modiadie as Ayanda Gumede-Williams, Gatshe’s ambitious, cut-throat daughter.
Viewers may have previously seen Nkosi in similar roles in “The Wild” (2011), where he played a lawyer to the late Shona Ferguson’s character, and in “Scandal!” (2022), slipping into the skin of a corrupt lawyer.
Despite having background knowledge, which he gained from his previous roles, Nkosi still needed guidance from those around him, including friends in the law fraternity, to perfect this role.
“I draw inspiration from those characters and also with the help of friends who are in the space of law. It’s just a bit of demeanour in which someone carries themself, someone as powerful as Gatshe, who is 60 years old and who is that powerful.
“I had to ask myself how do these men carry themselves when they are in the room, when they are playing golf, when they are spoken about, when they are spoken to, when they speak to people.
“I tried to take all of that and mix and marry it with the character in order to perform my best at being that character.”
Nkosi said that he was drew in by the storyline and by the character itself.
“I wanted to show myself as an actor who can play a powerful businessman. A businessman who might not be seen committing a murder, but it will be left in people’s minds whether he had a hand in it.
“He’s an enigmatic figure, an established character that we’ve seen in society ... So to play such a character, a confident man like that, drew me to the role. I have done my best and hopefully, the viewers will see that.” said Nkosi.
The 13-episode legal drama, which is executive produced by Thandi Ramathesele and directed by “Outlaws” director, Nthabiseng Tau, Nthabiseng Mokoena and Christo Davids, shifts between Tembisa and Sandton and showcases aspirational living.
Nkosi said the sets are of beautiful mansions, people playing golf, flying in private jets and driving expensive cars as well as dressing to the nines.
"This is to say to the black audience that we’ve come a long way and to show that there is another life that we can live, one that is achievable if you work very very hard.
“You can create generational wealth, you can have a farm at the Winelands, you can have one house in Joburg and another in Paarl. The world is your oyster.
“This is how ‘Generations’ started. On that first episode, we watched and we thought, ‘My goodness, could we be in advertising?’ ... That show played a very pivotal role, so we also hope for that.
He urged viewers to welcome the show, study each character and wait for season two where everything will play out.
“Season one lays down the foundation. It introduces all of us and looks into why each character is the way they are.
“I hope that the fans will support us in this venture because we are going into untested territory. I hope viewers are fully entertained by the story we are telling.” he said.
On working with the rest of the cast and crew, Nkosi shared that they were all amazing.
“We had special appearances from famous people coming in, presenting their cases. KB plays my ex-wife ... Dineo is our lead and she is amazing. This was her first lead as an adult, she has always played younger characters so this series has given her an opportunity to play her own age.
“Pearl also came through. Everybody pulled up to make this work, from the writers to producers and us breathing life into to characters, to the environment, the set, the clothing and the language, it all came together and everyone has done what they possibly could do, to make it great.”
Nknosi hopes that viewers get to see what a beautiful story it is.
“We want young people to watch and who knows, maybe it will spark interest in them to become lawyers and attorneys themselves. We also know that lawyers will be watching with their red pens in hand.”
∎ “Law, Love and Betrayal” is currently streaming on Showmax, with new episodes releasing every Thursday.