The telenovela, which is inspired by Dudu Busani-Dube’s best-selling Hlomu the Wife book series, is centred around the lives of eight Zulu brothers from Greytown, in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
The series tells African love stories through the eyes of the wives who these criminal masterminds marry
A teaser for a much-anticipated telenovela, The Wife has been released by Showmax.
Showmax has commissioned three seasons of 40 episodes each, inspired by three of Dudu’s books Hlomu the Wife, Zandile the Resolute, and Naledi His Love respectively.
The teaser gives fans their first glimpse of the actors who landed the coveted roles. Rising star Mbalenhle Mavimbela will play Hlomu, the journalist who falls in love with a taxi driver, not realising that when you marry a man, you marry his secrets
Mqhele will be played by Bonko Khoza, who burst onto the acting scene as Jabz in the multi-award-winning film Necktie Youth and has since appeared in the likes of Professionals and the Emmy-nominated Roots.
Busani-Dube said she spent some time with Mavimbela and Khoza on set.
“They are great – new, fresh faces. They’ve already developed a chemistry and should do justice to the characters,” she said.
Showrunner Gugu Ncube-Zuma echoed her sentiments saying: “There isn’t any one role or character that audiences can instinctively affix to them.
“As a result, they will truly embody and be known intrinsically as Hlomu and Mqhele. What solidified this decision was their undeniable chemistry: it was just electric,” she said.
Mavimbela said she jumped at the chance to auditioned when she found out that Hlomu the Wife was being turned into a series.
“Funnily enough, a while back I did a Tik Tok pretending to be Hlomu the Wife and that I had ‘made it’, not knowing that I would end up playing the character. It was even trending,” said Mavimbela.
“It feels like I’ve been keeping a secret from my fans and followers for months, and I couldn’t even post a hint. I’ve been watching fans ‘casting’ from the sidelines on Twitter and Facebook but haven’t been able to say anything.”
The cast also includes Kwenzo Ngcobo, Sipho Ndlovu, SAFTA winner Abdul Khoza, Mondli Makhoba and SAFTA nominee Thulane Shange as the Greytown Zulu brothers.
They are joined by TikTok star Linda Majola, SAFTA nominees Bongani Gumede, Dumisani Dlamini, Siyabonga Shibe and Zikhona Sodlaka.
The Wife is being produced by Stained Glass, who have created SAFTA-winning shows like eHostela and Ifalakhe as well as Uzalo, South Africa’s most-watched soap opera.
The first three episodes of The Wife will be available from November 11, with three new episodes added every Thursday