Courtesy of NBC
- Ryan Serhant says season 9 of "Million Dollar Listing New York" is "very different" from past ones.
- He told Insider they filmed through the 2020 election, coronavirus pandemic, and BLM protests.
- "MDLNY," premiering Thursday, also adds the first female real-estate agent to its cast this season.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
The latest season of "Million Dollar Listing New York" will explore more than "just cool haircuts and expensive apartments," according to longtime cast member Ryan Serhant.
For eight seasons, the show has given viewers an inside look at New York City's luxury real-estate market and a peek at the lives of a group of top brokers, including Serhant, who finalize multimillion-dollar deals.
Ahead of Thursday night's season nine premiere, Serhant told Insider that the new batch of episodes is going to resonate with audiences "in a very different way," particularly because of how the season handles milestone political and public-health events that took place in 2020.
"We shot through COVID, we shot through the election, we shot through Black Lives Matter," Serhant told Insider of the latest season.
"We were as involved as we possibly could be and incredibly aware of what was going on in the country," he added, referencing the protests that broke out across the country last summer after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Serhant told Insider that in order to understand the importance of the BLM protests, he had conversations with Black team members at his real-estate firm, adding that it was very "eye-opening" for him to have them share their experiences with him.
Serhant recalled one conversation with a Black realtor on his team, where he told them he "cannot even fathom what's going on in this world right now" and that he doesn't "know what it means to walk outside and be afraid of the police."
He said he also visited murals dedicated to the movement, painted by graffiti artists.
"We filmed a lot about it as it was happening and I know we didn't shy away from it," Serhant added. "I think that'll be important. We've never shot anything like that before."
'MDLNY' is also welcoming its first-ever female broker this season
In addition to tackling complicated, and unprecedented, conversations about race and politics, "MDLNY" also added its first-ever female real-estate agent, Kirsten Jordan, to the cast this season.
Courtesy of NBC
Jordan is set to make her "MDLNY" debut alongside cast members Serhant, Fredrik Eklund, Tyler Whitman, and Steve Gold on the Thursday night premiere.
Serhant told Insider that he "really pushed" for Jordan to be on the show.
"Kirsten is just awesome," Serhant said. "She's a great agent and she's a rare triple threat. She's a great broker. She's a mom. She's also a really great person."
Fellow cast member and top broker Gold echoed Serhant, separately telling Insider he's excited to have Jordan join the cast of the show.
"There's a lot of very powerful and amazing female brokers I deal with every single day and they hadn't been represented," Gold said.
"I think it'll add a new energy that was been needed on the show," he added.
"Million Dollar Listing New York" season nine premieres on tonight at 9/8c.