The new season of Skwizas premieres on SABC2 this Sunday (15 May) at 19h30 and returns with the vibey energy of Slindile Nodangala who's moving and shaking after being fired from Generations two years ago.
She's currently starring in Mzansi Magic's new telenovela Ring of Lies and now she's injecting her sense of humour into Skwizas as a new character called Melo, short for Melodramatic - Twiggy's sister.
Melo arrives on the scene from KZN to housesit Twiggy's house when Twiggy leaves for a trip overseas and ends up taking over. She's overbearing, likes to do things her way and she takes over the house as if it's hers, with a melodramatic flair.
If it sounds as if the role was written for Slindile, it's because it was. TVSA caught up with Skwizas producer Sinini Mati who dished the reason for introducing a new character this season.
Sinini explains: “We needed to spice things up and bring more vibey characters so we needed someone to bring that aspect. Mam Lillian Dube was also going through her chemotherapy so we just needed someone who was going to bring that vibe to set because everyone was feeling, 'Is Mam Lillian okay?' You know... that worry and all that."
As you probably know, Lillian Dube has been battling breast cancer for a long time. She survived a battle against it nine years ago and now she's fighting it again. She was going through chemotherapy during the filming of Skwizas so she was facing the therapy while starring on the show as Mmane and executively producing it at the same time.
Slindile's arrival clearly injected the show with the right medicine that everyone wanted and needed.
"We didn’t actually audition Slindile," Sinini told us. "We knew who we wanted and Mam Lillian knew also. Melo's a big character and we’re hoping to grow her next season."