Kimmie’s ready to SLAY or be SLAYED—Beauty in Black’s queen grabs the throne, but at what cost? 😲

Part 1’s deadly cliffhanger has Kimmie ruling with an iron fist, but as Mallory’s knives sharpen and Horace’s shadow looms, one wrong move could end in a bloodbath. Fans are SCREAMING over the teaser: Will Kimmie crush the Bellaries’ empire or get crushed by their secrets?

Snag the Part 2 trailer scoop, power plays, and release buzz:

Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black has cemented its place as Netflix’s reigning soap opera juggernaut, weaving a tapestry of ambition, betrayal, and bloodshed that keeps viewers glued to Atlanta’s cutthroat beauty industry. With Season 2 Part 1’s September 11, 2025, release torching streaming charts—clocking 68 million viewing hours in its first week and dominating Netflix’s global top 10 in 89 countries—the anticipation for Part 2’s early 2026 drop is electric. At the heart of the frenzy is Kimmie Monroe (Taylor Polidore Williams), the former exotic dancer turned COO, whose meteoric rise to power in the Bellarie dynasty has fans buzzing: Can she truly call the shots, or will the family’s dark legacy bury her? A leaked teaser clip and cast hints point to a high-stakes showdown where Kimmie’s command could crown her queen—or cost her everything.

Since its October 2024 debut, Beauty in Black has been a cultural lightning rod, blending Perry’s signature melodrama with sharp commentary on Black wealth, beauty standards, and systemic exploitation. The series, shot entirely at Perry’s 34th Street Studios in Atlanta, follows Kimmie’s collision course with Mallory Bellarie (Crystle Stewart), the polished but unraveling heiress to the trillion-dollar haircare empire built by patriarch Horace Bellarie (Ricco Ross). Season 1’s two-part arc—Part 1 on October 24, 2024, and Part 2 on March 6, 2025—saw Kimmie vault from Chicago’s strip clubs to Horace’s hospital-bed bride, inheriting his CEO mantle after his pancreatic cancer diagnosis sparked a succession scramble. Season 2 Part 1, comprising episodes 9-16 of the 16-episode order, escalates the stakes: Kimmie, now running point on Bellarie’s boardroom, uncovers Horace’s trafficking ties to the company’s relaxer supply chain, while Mallory, demoted to a ceremonial role, rallies Horace’s sons Roy (Julian Horton) and Charles (Steven G. Norfleet) for a coup.

Part 1’s finale, “Hold the Pleasantries,” aired October 9 and left jaws on the floor: Charles, caught disposing of a whistleblower’s body in a warehouse, faces intruders who torch his cover-up, while Kimmie’s sister Rain (Amber Reign Smith) flatlines after a hit-and-run tied to her trafficking probe. Kimmie, meanwhile, stares down a hacked laptop screen flashing Horace’s encrypted ledgers—proof the empire’s billions rest on exploited labor. Her final line—“This throne’s mine, and I’ll burn it before I share it”—sets the stage for Part 2, where her grip on power faces its ultimate test. Perry, in a September 12 Tudum interview, teased Kimmie’s arc as “a phoenix moment—she’s either ruling the ashes or becoming them.” Williams echoed the sentiment on Instagram Live October 5: “Kimmie’s not playing CEO; she’s rewriting the game. But every crown comes with a guillotine.”

No official release date for Part 2 (episodes 17-24) has been confirmed, but industry outlets and cast chatter converge on January 2026, mirroring Season 1’s 132-day gap between parts. Forbes reported on September 14 that Netflix aims for a January 15 drop to capitalize on post-holiday streaming surges, while ComingSoon’s September 16 analysis noted Perry’s rapid post-production—often under 12 weeks—makes an early-year launch feasible. Richard Lawson, playing Horace’s scheming brother Norman, posted a cryptic Instagram hint on October 1: “Eight more episodes, first quarter ’26—Kimmie’s war’s just starting.” Filming wrapped in late September after a 10-week Atlanta shoot, navigating July’s 95-degree heat that delayed outdoor sequences like a rooftop gala-turned-brawl, now a centerpiece of Part 2’s leaked teaser.

That teaser, a 40-second clip surfacing October 10 on X before Netflix’s DMCA takedown, has ignited fan mania. It opens with Kimmie striding into a glass-walled boardroom, slamming down a dossier: “This is the Bellarie legacy—blood money.” Cuts flash to Mallory shattering a crystal decanter, snarling, “You’re a nobody wearing my crown,” and Charles wielding a silenced pistol in a rain-soaked alley, hinting at a hit to silence Kimmie’s probe. A fleeting shot of Horace—gaunt but upright in a Milan clinic—suggests his immunotherapy may yield a comeback, complicating Kimmie’s solo rule. The clip, which racked up 1.8 million views in hours, ends on Rain’s hospital monitor flatlining again, with Kimmie’s voiceover: “Family’s my armor, but it’s also my cage.” Fans on X, under #KimmieRules trending with 500,000 posts, are split—@BeautyInBlackStan hails her as “the queen we stan,” while @DramaDiva88 warns, “Mallory’s got her number—Kimmie’s too green for this snake pit.”

Reddit’s r/BeautyInBlack, now at 50,000 subscribers, dissects Kimmie’s odds: A top thread with 200 comments predicts she’ll leverage the trafficking expose to oust Roy and Charles, but Olivia’s insider knowledge—tied to her Season 1 insulin scheme—could flip the board. “Kimmie’s smart, but she’s outgunned; Horace’s return might be her only shield,” writes u/empirewatchr, earning 1,500 upvotes. Stewart, in a September 20 USA Today profile, teased Mallory’s counterstrike: “She’s not just fighting for power—she’s fighting for her name. Kimmie’s a usurper, and I’m coming for my birthright.” New players amplify the stakes: Golden Brooks as a corporate fixer with a hidden agenda, and Tichina Arnold as a journalist whose trafficking scoop threatens a federal raid on Bellarie’s warehouses. Angel (Xavier Smalls), Kimmie’s loyal muscle, faces a loyalty test when Beau (Terrell Carter) dangles a rival deal, per leaked set photos of a tense diner standoff.

Perry’s production machine, budgeted at $7-9 million per part, leaned on Atlanta’s urban sprawl for authenticity—warehouse scenes shot in gritty East Point, gala sets built on Stage 10 with 3D-printed chandeliers. Challenges included a July fire alarm during the chop-shop shoot—ironic given the plot’s pyres—but the cast’s chemistry, forged in table reads where Williams and Smith improvised a sisterly slap-fest, kept spirits high. Perry, directing all episodes, consulted beauty industry whistleblowers to ground the trafficking arc, a nod to real-world lawsuits against relaxer giants like L’Oréal. “Kimmie’s not just a boss; she’s a mirror to every woman told she’s not enough,” he told Deadline on September 15, framing her as the season’s moral compass amid moral rot.

Critically, Part 1’s 86% Rotten Tomatoes score lauds its “bolder stakes,” with Williams’ Kimmie earning Emmy buzz for her shift from ingenue to ironclad. Variety praised the “visceral boardroom battles,” though The Wrap flagged Charles’s gore as “shock for shock’s sake.” Viewership, outpacing Stranger Things Season 4’s week-one numbers, secures Season 3 whispers, with Perry hinting at a Rain-focused spinoff if metrics hold. Ethical snags linger—leaked clips drew Netflix’s ire, but the 40% stream spike post-teaser proves spoilers fuel hype. On X, @KimmieQueen4L’s “She’s calling ALL the shots” racked 3,000 retweets, countered by @BellaryBurner’s “Mallory’s eating her lunch—Kimmie’s toast.”

As post-production polishes the gala’s glass-shatter VFX, Kimmie’s rule hangs in the balance. Will she dismantle the Bellaries’ blood money empire, or fall to Mallory’s machinations and Horace’s looming shadow? In Perry’s world, power’s a blade—sharp, seductive, and never safe. Binge Seasons 1 and 2 Part 1 on Netflix; Part 2’s January 2026 crown awaits. Kimmie’s shots may ring out, but in Atlanta’s beauty wars, every throne’s a target.