“Beyond the Gates” Producer Promises a 'Rooted' Soap with an 'Accomplished Black Family' That's 'Messy as Hell' (Exclusive)

"We’re not going to have aliens or anything.... It’s grounded in family," 'Beyond the Gates' creator and executive producer Michele Val Jean tells PEOPLE

Beyond the Gates is unlike any soap opera you've ever seen.

Touted as the first Black daytime soap in over 35 years (and the first-ever, hour-long soap led by a Black cast), the explosive drama, which premieres Feb. 24 on CBS, follows the prestigious, multi-generational Dupree family and their lives in a leafy Washington, D.C., suburb, one of the most affluent African-American counties in the nation.

But behind the upscale gated community of Fairmont Crest, with its five-star dining and exclusive country clubs, the Duprees' seemingly picture-perfect lives are laced with secrets and scandals.

The cast includes Tamara Tunie (As the World Turns) as matriarch Anita Dupree, Clifton Davis (Amen) as patriarch Vernon Dupree, Daphnee Duplaix (Passions) as Dr. Nicole Dupree Richardson and Karla Mosley (The Bold and the Beautiful) as Dani Dupree.

"You certainly have not seen these characters before on daytime [television]," Michele Val Jean, Beyond the Gates' creator, showrunner and executive producer, exclusively tells PEOPLE. "They are a really close-knit, accomplished Black family, and they’re messy as hell. It’s not like they’re perfect; they’re messy as well."

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Val Jean adds that like many other Black families, no matter how "messy" things get, the Duprees will always have each other's backs.

"When push comes to shove, they could be mad at each other, not speaking to each other, but when someone in that family is in trouble, the other ones are going to be there to get them out. That’s the foundation of the show," says Val Jean. "That’s the foundation of most soap operas, all of the drama, but it’s gotta be rooted in something. And this show is rooted in family."

Though the Duprees are known to bring the drama, there are a few soap tropes that Val Jean plans to avoid — at least for now.

"I think my show is going to be more grounded than that. I don’t think we’ll be seeing any.… Well, it’s hard to say sometimes. I don’t want to say ‘never’ if it works. For the most part, we’re not going to have aliens or anything like that. It’s grounded in family." 

For Val Jean, writing a soap opera about "rich Black people who were messy" has been a decades-long dream. She got her start on Generations, the first soap opera to display a Black family. It aired on NBC from 1989 to 1991.

Val Jean calls the experience her "training ground," which prepared her for the manifestation of Beyond the Gates after being approached by Sheila Ducksworth, President of the CBS Studios/NAACP Venture.

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"Sheila Ducksworth is the engine behind all of this," Val Jean says.

Ducksworth, who also serves as an executive producer, says her desire to portray a family like the Duprees on daytime television stems from the lack of Black representation in the genre.

 "It’s just something I felt was missing, something that I haven’t seen before," she tells PEOPLE.

"We would get our one, two or three characters out of 40 in a soap opera that were culturally and racially diverse, and that was it," says Duckworth. "I always wanted to see more of a reflection of real life. So it was really important from a very young age, specifically, to see a soap opera where more people looked like me."

"I think for people around all corners of the world to see that this is yet another look at Black life in America, I think it’s going to be important," she adds. "It’s highly aspirational, yet attainable, and that’s what we want to put on display."

Beyond the Gates features a multi-generational cast that also includes White, Asian and Latinx actors as well as characters with varied sexual identities. Ducksworth says viewers can expect it to encompass "everything."

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At the same time, she notes that the landmark series peels back the layers and gives the world a unique look at the Black experience.

"We have it set in a place where this is the mecca. This is the place where I’d say has the greatest concentration of Black wealth in all of the country. Yet there’s never really been a spotlight put on it. These aspects are real, [and] we’re incorporating [them] in our show to reflect the greatness and the brilliance of Black culture in America."

One example is the series' fictional version of HBCU (historically Black colleges and universities) Howard University called Banneker University. The name is a nod to mathematician, astronomer and author Benjamin Banneker and his contributions to Washington, D.C.

While the national political and racial climate is an ongoing conversation, Val Jean is excited for viewers to let Beyond the Gates serve as an escape to "transcend all of that."

"We’re trying to produce and write the most entertaining show possible and take you out of all of that for an hour," she says. "The world’s not going away. It’s going to be there when you turn off the show. And it’s still going to be out of your control. But for the time you’re sitting there watching the show, you can forget all that and just get into these people and their shenanigans. That’s my goal in this turbulent era."

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"I want to tell stories that feel fresh and utterly contemporary. One of the biggest aspects that has been in the DNA from the very beginning is aspiration," Duckworth adds. "It’s present, it’s strong, it’s real in the soap, and I’m excited about that because what’s better than hope quite frankly? For people to see if this is something you aspire to, there are people out there who have it. And we think with that comes just basically a lot of feel-good that people can enjoy in watching it. Not only is it just aspiration, not only is it just hope, it’s the reality that these lifestyles do exist."

Though Beyond the Gates' debut comes as classic soap operas are facing cancelations, Val Jean and Duckworth are hopeful it will make its mark for decades to come.

"I can’t see why we can’t be on for 100 years," Duckworth says. "It’s an amazing time for TV, not even just daytime TV — just television. It’s an amazing, amazing time, and we can’t wait to get started and bring the world what is fresh, new, different and truly one of a kind."

Beyond the Gates premieres Feb. 24 on CBS and airs weekdays at 2p,m, ET.