Exclusive: From Films To Series To Novel - Malcolm D Lee talks The Best Man: Unfinished Business
For over two decades, audiences have followed the careers of director Malcolm D. Lee and the cast of The Best Man (Morris Chestnut, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long, Harold Perrineau, and Melissa De Sousa). While each have gone on to do other projects and continue to shine in the industry, folks can never get away from seeing the characters they played in The Best Man. From the sequel The Best Man Holiday to the Peacock series, The Best Man: The Final Chapters, we still want to see what’s going on with our favorite characters. Well, the wait is over.
Rather than wait for the actors to find time to film, or a budget to be approved, Malcolm D. Lee decided to take a different approach in telling their stories. Along with Jayne Allen and Crown Publishing Group, they have put together The Best Man: Unfinished Business, a new trade paperback original series on July 1, 2025, with the next two books slated for release in 2026. Each novel stands alone while weaving together the ongoing stories of these beloved characters across the trilogy.
The first book in a new trade paperback original trilogy, the novel has been released in physical and ebook formats, with an audiobook edition to be issued simultaneously by Penguin Random House Audio.
In 1999, Lee’s feature film debut, The Best Man, opened at #1 at the box office, quickly becoming a fan favorite and a defining film in Black rom-coms and bromances. Audiences fell in love with budding novelist Harper Stewart (Taye Diggs) as he reunites with college buddies Lance (Morris Chestnut), Quentin (Terrence Howard), and Julian (Harold Perrineau) over a dramatic wedding weekend in which secrets come to light, loyalties are tested, and Harper’s heart is torn between old and new flames, Jordan (Nia Long) and Robyn (Sanaa Lathan).
Lee’s rich and authentic characters have remained fan favorites for decades through a follow-up movie, The Best Man Holiday, which opened at #2 at the box office in 2013, and the 2022 hit eight-part Peacock series, The Best Man: The Final Chapters, which put Peacock in the Nielsen Top 10 for the first time ever and is still a top series on the platform. Since the series wrapped, fans have taken to social media to ask for more from this unforgettable cast of characters.
Continuing where the Peacock series left off, Lee’s debut novel, The Best Man: Unfinished Business, follows Harper, Jordan, and Robyn as they try to establish new lives away from the hurts of the past and come to realize that some relationships are impossible to break away from.
Blackfilmandtv.com's Wilson Morales talks to director Malcolm D. Lee talks taking The Best Man franchise from Films To Series and now a novel with The Best Man Unfinished Business