If “Snowfall” is any indication, being cut from the same cloth doesn’t necessarily mean meeting the same fate. The original iteration of FX’s crime drama, set in South Central Los Angeles, chronicled the rise and fall of unassuming teenager-turned-ruthless drug lord Franklin Saint (played by Damson Idris). After its six-season run, the series largely ended in tragedy for those caught in the crossfire of the greedy kingpin’s friends-and-family dope operation, built amid the 1980s crack cocaine epidemic with the help of an off-the-books CIA assignment. Franklin himself ultimately suffered the consequences, ending up drunk, destitute and wandering the same streets he once flooded with crack rock.But not everyone involved met such a tragic end — Wanda Bell managed to escape.Ray Mickshaw/FX.Gail Bean reprises her role as Wanda Bell in the FX spinoff series "The Drop: A Snowfall Saga."Introduced in Season 2 as the fun-loving girlfriend of drug dealer Leon Simmons (Isaiah John), Franklin’s former right-hand man, Wanda (played by Gail Bean) initially became part of the local crack business as a member of the Saint crew. She helped cook up the very drug ravaging her community, only to become one of its victims after developing a heavy addiction. But Wanda ultimately fought her way to recovery and, unlike Franklin, rebuilt her life by the series’ end.It’s something of a miracle that Wanda made it out the other side at all, after her dramatic physical transformation gave “Snowfall” viewers an unflinching look at the devastating toll of crack and the depths of addiction — rotting teeth, unkempt hair, dirty clothes and all. But perhaps even more surprising was the second wind Wanda caught in the final season after a life-altering trip to Ghana, which effectively set up a new story to explore within the “Snowfall” universe.Billed as a spinoff from creator Malcolm Spellman, FX’s “The Drop: A Snowfall Saga” finds Wanda firmly on the other side of addiction and chasing a new dream in 1990s LA, where the remnants of the crack epidemic collide with the rise of West Coast hip-hop. Trading the dope game for the rap game, the former addict is determined to make her mark as a music executive and show that the sound coming out of LA can transform American culture. With help from Leon, her cousins Lamar (Asante Blackk) and James (Peyton Alex Smith), rising rapper Artillery (Simmie “Buddy” Sims III), and an internship with dope-boy-turned-label-owner Darryl “DG” Grant (Brandon Mychal Smith), a wide-eyed Wanda dives headfirst into the music business, intent on putting LA rap on the map and proving that she’s better than the woman she once was.“Wanda Bell is resilient as hell,” Bean proclaimed with a wide smile on our Zoom call as she reflected on her character’s journey from “Snowfall” to “The Drop.”“It feels like a real-life evolution,” she continued. “When I auditioned for Wanda Bell, it was in 2017. [Coming] into ‘Snowfall,’ I was the drug dealer’s girlfriend. The LA girl from around the way; a young teenager, you know? So, to continuously have arcs within Wanda in ‘Snowfall’ to now have new arcs in ‘The Drop,’ I am shedding skin and open to just, OK, who am I now?”FXGail Bean as Wanda Bell and rapper Simmie "Buddy" Sims III as Artillery in "The Drop: A Snowfall Saga."For Bean, stepping back into Wanda’s shoes three years after the end of “Snowfall,” now as a leading star, has been surreal, to say the least. “It’s just so crazy. I feel like I’m asleep in a dream,” she told HuffPost in disbelief. “And I’m cool with staying asleep because it’s nice. This all feels good.” But the opportunity came with its share of nerves, too. Bean still remembers watching her “Snowfall” castmate Idris speak at the premiere of the show’s sixth and final season with admiration, not long after learning that she would be stepping into his shoes as the lead of the show’s next chapter via a spinoff.“It just hit me,” Bean recalled. “I knew we had the spinoff, I knew I would be No. 1, and it hit me. I was like, oh, this is 365 days when you’re No. 1 on the show. Like, this is a full-time job.”In that moment, the 33-year-old understood just how much her former co-star had been carrying as the face of “Snowfall,” and what would soon be expected of her as the anchor of “The Drop.”“I went to him afterward,” Bean remembered, “and I said, ‘Man, brother, I respect you so much. I am in awe of how you’re having to deal with the pressures [of being No. 1] and also having to be present in the moment, deciding and having to say no sometimes to what battles to pursue and which not. How to contribute creatively and what’s appropriate, and still give your best performance.’”“It's just so crazy. I feel like I'm asleep in a dream.Taking the reins of a follow-up to an acclaimed true-life-inspired drama like “Snowfall” would be daunting under any circumstances. For Bean, that task was even more challenging without the guidance of co-creator John Singleton, the legendary director and creative force behind the original series, who died of a massive stroke in 2019.After experiencing that loss in the middle of filming Season 3, Bean and her fellow “Snowfall” cast members felt a responsibility to carry Singleton’s vision through to the end.“When John passed — Rest in peace, John Singleton — We were like, ‘OK, we got to continue on and tell this story full circle for him,’” Bean recalled. “But this [‘The Drop’] is different, man. It’s different without him.”Still, the actor sees the spinoff less as an extension of Singleton’s legacy and more as an opportunity to carry forward the spirit of what he instilled through his groundbreaking work.“It’s bittersweet,” Bean remarked, “but it’s also like, ‘The Drop’ isn’t John’s legacy. John’s legacy lives in all of us. Because this is a new showrunner, new writers and new characters, so I don’t attribute [the spinoff] to John’s legacy. I attribute it to what was deposited inside each of us: Isaiah John, me, and not just people he worked with, but also you — people who watched his projects and became fans of his, or felt seen or inspired. Even with our showrunner and the writers now, they can all attribute their inspiration to him.”FX“The Drop” follows aspiring music executive Wanda as she works to put LA rap on the map, with help from her cousins Lamar (Asante Blackk, pictured right) and James (Peyton Alex Smith).“The Drop” may not bear Singleton’s name, but the unmistakable influence of the South Central native’s immersive storytelling is apparent in this next chapter of “Snowfall.” It begins with a frustrated Wanda sitting up in her room, flipping through lackluster cassette tapes from local rappers before stumbling upon Artillery’s latest funky track, which immediately has her grinning and bobbing her head.“This is history,” she declares in the premiere episode, enthusiastically circling the rapper’s name in her notebook full of music plans.That’s the world “The Drop” sits within: a fictionalized LA emerging from the crack epidemic, poised for another historic shift as the N.W.A. era propels West Coast rap from a local movement into a cultural force poised to take over the nation and, eventually, the world. As the series outlines, a new source of power emerges from the dangerous streets of LA after the drug trade tears through local communities and the Los Angeles Police Department cranks up its brutal crackdown on traffickers. Soon, the subgenre of LA gangsta rap emerges as another product of that upheaval, with stories of d-boys, addicts and police brutality brought on by the crack explosion spilling over potent G-funk beats that would soon dominate radio waves.“Crack isn’t gone. It didn’t leave. It’s still here,” Bean explained of the period depicted in “The Drop,” as it shifts its focus toward the art form shaped by the drug epidemic — this time, through the eyes of a reformed addict.Through Wanda and those around her, the series presents rap as a hopeful escape from the perilous cycle of street life, where jail or death are often the inevitable consequences, as well as from the poverty that pushed so many toward the drug trade in the first place.“Drug dealers, crack cocaine — that was a way out of the hood for some people, like, OK, this is gonna put money in my pocket,” Bean added. “And now we have this thing where rap became a primary economic escape for a lot of young Black men navigating deindustrialization, hyper-policing and intense poverty.”That’s exactly how Wanda’s producer cousin Lamar sees the power of rap in the spinoff. While the teenage musical prodigy’s strict religious grandparents, Big Daddy (Mykelti Williamson) and Mama G (Nicki Micheaux), along with his big brother James, would rather see him play it safe with a job at their church and steer clear of the warring neighborhood gangs, Lamar, much like Wanda, dreams of making a name for himself in the music industry.FXGail Bean and Asante Blackk in a scene from "The Drop: A Snowfall Saga."Bean knew “The Drop” had found something special when the “talented” Asante Blackk joined the music-and-survival-driven spinoff as one of her co-leads.“Asante was the first person cast, and immediately when I saw him— we had pictures of me, Isaiah, and then when Asante’s picture hit, I said, ‘Oh, we going to the top,’” the actor recalled. “That kid is so talented. Working with Asante, developing that bond, we’re like sibling cousins. He literally feels like my nephew … I gave him different little tips that I know worked for us in that [‘Snowfall’] realm, but I learned from him as well. It was mutually beneficial. He taught me stuff, I taught him stuff, and we had a good time.”The actor also relished exploring the “interesting” sibling-rivalry dynamic she shared with her other co-star, Peyton Alex Smith.“I think it’s because sometimes when you’re so close in age, that thing of he’s the male cousin, and we’re right around the same age, but he’s obviously bigger than me and feels the need to protect me,” Bean said, explaining the tension between the cousins. “But it’s the little cousin that thinks they’re the big cousin, so it was that energy.”Bean said she and her co-star John were “very intentional” about helping their new castmates understand that the project was never a “‘Snowfall’ versus ‘The Drop’ [kind of thing]” during production of the first season. As she explained, she wanted to show them the same respect she had for her original cast members while treating the “continuation” of “Snowfall” with that same level of care.“Because telling this story, this isn’t fiction,” Bean pointed out. “These are people’s real lives. This is a time in history, a culturally stamped time in history, that was explosive, but also was exploited.”FXBrandon Mychal Smith as Darryl "DG" Grant and Bean as Wanda in "The Drop: A Snowfall Saga."Wanda was there when crack first hit South LA, contributing to its devastating spread before addiction took hold of her own life. Now in recovery, she becomes the central perspective through which “The Drop” explores the epidemic’s aftermath, navigating the difficult process of rebuilding her identity in a world that refuses to let her forget who she was. From people who still label her a crackhead to Mama G’s relentless jabs, Wanda is constantly confronted by something — or someone — determined to keep her humble.“A lot of people either washed their hands of her or they’re present in her life, but they’re not as supportive, as you see with Mama G,” said Bean. “People are judging her and not allowing her grace because of her past addiction. So seeing that there are so many layers, I was like, OK, we have some things to unpack here that any woman, regardless of race, can understand and relate to.”“Telling this story, this isn't fiction. These are people's real lives.That lack of grace extends beyond Wanda’s history with addiction and into the sexist, misogynistic culture of the 1990s music industry, where women were often dismissed, underestimated and denied the same professional respect afforded to their male counterparts.“This is a moment of patriarchy where Black women are not welcomed. They are disrespected and not protected,” Bean noted of the times, wondering how those dynamics and the darker realities of navigating LA rap’s rise from the streets will continue to shape Wanda’s journey.Those themes weren’t always top of mind for Bean while filming the first season of “The Drop.” After spending years shaping Wanda’s journey from the grips of addiction to the hard-won road to recovery in “Snowfall,” the actor admitted it was initially difficult to wrap her head around where the spinoff takes her next.“I honestly was looking at Wanda’s story in grief of this character that I collaboratively built with ‘Snowfall’ writers being decimated,” Bean shared, “to where I’m having to meet a new Wanda in some sort of way.”“It was a shedding, and that happens sometimes,” she added. “We look back at our past self and only see remnants of who we were. Sometimes it is painful because you want to hold on to that innocence or that specialness. But the beauty of being in the present versus looking in the past is being open to what the new opportunities and the new you looks like. It could be better if you allow it.”For Bean, the realization was “jarring.” Yet seeing Wanda through the lens of a Black woman and former addict entering a new world with little of the support system she once had before drugs had made the character’s journey in “The Drop” even more compelling. At its core, the role became more about “really figuring out who she is from past experiences of addiction, love lost, family lost, alienation, abandonment and being an outcast.”FXBean as Wanda and Isaiah John as Leon Simmons in "The Drop: A Snowfall Saga."Wanda’s transformation in “The Drop” can be traced back to her escape to Ghana with Leon in the final season of “Snowfall,” where the couple married after reckoning with the devastating consequences of their roles as drug dealers and users amid America’s crack epidemic.“I remember when I first went to Ghana in 2016, and how that changed me,” said Bean, reflecting on the experience. Just imagine how much more profound that journey must have been for Wanda in the late ’80s, “when nobody is going” to Africa.“What it’s like to go to Ghana in the ’80s, when you’re the first?” Bean pondered of her character. “What I do love about Wanda is, no matter what, good or bad, whether it’s crack, it’s traveling to Africa or music, she is a part of that first wave of people who do things early.”“She’s ahead of her time,” she added. “She is and has always been a visionary.”Sadly, Wanda begins this new chapter without Leon as her husband, leaving “The Drop” viewers to piece together what ultimately drove the couple apart. In keeping with Wanda’s own evolution, the sequel slowly but surely fills in those gaps, peeling back her story layer by layer across its eight-episode debut season.“I love that in ‘The Drop’ we get to explore that a little more, and it’s a slow burn,” said Bean. “We don’t get to, right away, learn who Wanda is now as she’s rediscovering herself. We’re kind of in limbo in Season 1, trying to figure out, well, who is Wanda? What does she want? What is she doing?” Those larger questions loom heavily over “The Drop,” as audiences will soon learn. While the spinoff highlights just how far Wanda has come, it also explores the unsettling ways some of the behaviors she displayed while battling addiction begin to resurface as she tries to find her footing in the music industry.“Energy does not die; it’s transferred,” Bean noted, hoping audiences recognize how Wanda has traded one form of addiction for another. “We’re starting to see Wanda sober in this redemption, super-focused [arc], and we are realizing some of the traits that she displayed during her addiction that we attributed to the drugs are really just who she is.”“She is obsessed with [this idea of], ‘I am going to be successful. I’m going to erase my crack facts, and be all in, and I’m going to show you. I am going to win,’” she continued. “I think that obsession is the same exact energy she had with the addiction, and I love that it translated because that’s how I went into it. We got to see this trait while she was on drugs, but she’s an obsessive person.”“She is and has always been a visionary.Whether that obsession ultimately pays off for Wanda remains to be seen. Still, for the first time in years, she’s found something she believes could make a difference not just in her life, but also in her community. And when it comes to making that vision a reality, who better to have in her corner than her own village?“She’s doing it for herself, but she’s also wanting Lamar and Leon to come along, wanting to bring Artillery into it, and even DG,” Bean said, also seeing traces of Idris’ Franklin in Wanda’s ambitions.“Wanda, in a way, compares to Franklin because, yes, Franklin did the drug game and it was a selfish thing,” the actor continued, “but it was also selfless because he wanted to bring his family and friends with him.”“Wanda wants to bring others with her,” she added. “Yes, she’s doing it for herself because she knows there’s a benefit to it. But she’s also like, look, there’s room for us all.” Bean is excited for audiences to meet this new version of Wanda, who refuses to abandon her passion even after life knocks her down a couple of times. She knows she’s onto something big with LA’s rap scene and is willing to fight tooth and nail for it — and make anyone who will listen see what she sees.“This is our first time seeing Wanda bet on herself,” Bean said proudly. “So often, women have dreams and passions, but we’re always aiding and supporting someone else’s. We always put ourselves at the back of the bus, instead of fostering our dreams, our passions and things that we know our intuition is telling us.”But Wanda’s story is different — or at least, that’s what “The Drop” hopes to prove.“She’s a visionary,” Bean asserted, pointing to her character’s unwavering belief in the future of regional hip-hop. “She knows that West Coast rap has staying power and true longevity.”She added, “When you’re right, you’re right.”New episodes of “The Drop: A Snowfall Saga” air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on FX and Hulu.