Bonko Khoza ‘Mqhele’ leaves The Wife, with the show looking for a new Mqhele.
It has been confirmed by Stained Glass, the company that produces The Wife, that Bonko Khoza will not be appearing in the third season of the show. However, his role will still be on the show, which means that the showrunners have to recast for the same role which they are currently doing. The show has broken many streaming records on Showmax as viewers were invested in the show after they read the books it is based on.
Bonko Khoza leaves The Wife.
The show’s third season will be inspired by the third book of the Zulu wives written by Dudu Busani-Dube Naledi, his love. The lead characters for this next season will be Gaisang Noge, who will play Dr Naledi and Kwenzo Ngcobo, who plays Qhawe Zulu.
Mqhele and Hlomu were the focus of the show’s first season, with their love story based on Hlomu, the wife.
Many viewers fell in love with Bonko playing Mqhele because he embodied the book’s character they had read about. In the book, Mqhele is a bug-eyed taxi driver, and Bonko is the same as he has the bug eyes we have all come to love. Whoever will take in the role of Mqhele has big shoes to fill as the viewers already have a picture of the perfect Mqhele in Bonko.
Mqhele Zulu from The Wife to be recasted
The show’s producer, Kamogelo Aphane is optimistic that they will find the perfect replacement even if he knows fans will have a hard time letting go of the original Mqhele. However, he is hopeful because the first casting showed Stained Glass that perfect talent is in Mzansi, and when ones look for it, one will find it. Khoza will be part and parcel of the recasting process and even advise the new actor in any way he can for a smooth transition.
Bonko Khoza, like many other actors from The Wife, has landed numerous opportunities since the series debuted on Showmax. With Mqhele being his first lead role, it opened many doors for him, and he landed his second lead role a few months later in 13 weeks to find Mr Right.
Viewers’ reactions to Bonko leaving The Wife
Fans are not taking on the news well that Khoza is leaving The Wife, and some are thinking it’s better to cancel the show altogether if those many actors are leaving. Others think Stained Glass may not be paying their actors, and it’s like the Generations mass exodus where the show lost so much talent because of not paying actors.
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