The Woman King‘s highly anticipated arrival to the cinema will hopefully help usher in a latest age in Hollywood; one where there is no such thing as a query of if an all-Black woman solid can carry a movie and draw audiences to the theater.

It’s a reality that Viola Davis has long strived for, even when it appeared like a vision almost too far out of reach. As she revealed during ESSENCE’s roundtable discussion with the solid, she barely believed The Woman King would come to pass when the prospect of the film got here along. But Davis, who stars within the film as chief warrior Nanisca and in addition co-produced the project, recognizes that her efforts have paved a lane for the brand new generation of actresses to skirt around a few of the struggles she’s needed to face head-on.

“Thuso, Lashana, Shiela, Adrienne, Chioma, Masali, Jayme, Siya – they’re not going to face the identical. They’re just emboldened with way an excessive amount of courage and confidence,” Davis tells ESSENCE exclusively about her The Woman King co-stars. “These are young women who really imagine in themselves.”

“I do what I do because I need to depart the crumbs,” she continues.”I think that that’s the one thing that makes life worthwhile. We discuss generational wealth as legacy. Money doesn’t mean anything if vision and purpose isn’t behind it.”

Now that she’s broken through the too-often shuttered doors of Hollywood, she’s using her position to take said doors off their hinges for those coming up behind her. Her production company, JuVee Productions, co-run together with her husband Julius Tennon, produced The Woman King, with director Gina Prince-Bythewood within the drector’s chair.

“What my husband and I are doing with JuVee is legacy. It’s like they are saying, you’ll be able to either leave something for people or you’ll be able to leave something in people. And, whenever you leave it in people, it’s far more powerful.”

Thuso Mbedu, who portrays latest warrior recruit Nawi, agreed that Davis’ efforts have left room for actresses of her generation to a path featuring more roles, meatier material, and higher opportunities.

“We won’t face the identical challenges because Viola remains to be fighting those battles in real-time, and we’re going to learn from that,” Mbedu says. “It’s twofold. It’s bittersweet, because my biggest thing is, why is she still fighting?”

“Why does she must fight? She’s fighting because she’s a Black woman,” Mbedu continues. “She’s fighting the hardest because she’s a Black woman and I don’t think that’s fair. I’m grateful that I’ll profit from her fight, but why is she fighting?”

The Woman King opens in theaters in all places on September 16.