Hillside's hot new residents

The Basson family is growing as Shawn and Lana make their arrival in 7de Laan.

- ELRI BOUCHER

Shawn (left) and his wife Lana have moved into Hillside and brought new drama with them.

There’s new blood showing up in the quiet little Hillside suburb on Afrikaans soapie 7de Laan. Married pair Shawn (Deànré Reiners, Zandré until March this year on Isidingo, 1998now) and Lana Basson (Mila Guy, Malanie on comedy series Hotel, 2016-now) have slinked in at the end of April under strange circumstances. And at one point, fans were under the impression that Shawn was dead because his recovering drug addict sister Nikki (Danielle Retief) was talking to his ghost that she saw after being slyly handed what looked like packages of drugs from Lana. That was cleared up when it was revealed that the parcels were photos from Lana and Shawn’s wedding that Nikki wasn’t invited to by her estranged brother. Shawn and his businessman dad DeWet (Dirk Stoltz) have also been estranged but the reason for their feud hasn’t been explored yet. DeWet though is determined to reunite his family under his roof, even if it means manipulating them and playing dirty.

LOOSE UNIT

“Shawn is someone who, despite what happened, is a family man,” says Deànré. “Initially he doesn’t want to be reconciled with his father or sister, but deep inside he wants his loved ones around him.” Deànré is being coy about his character’s past, although viewers will have seen the flashbacks of Nikki jumping in a pool to save Shawn while their father stood by watching idly. “All I can say is that Shawn and DeWet had different ideas about Shawn’s future and that caused tremendous friction between father and son,” says Deànré.