Ruthless is an American drama series created, executive produced, written, and directed by Tyler Perry.

[2] Starting on February 23, 2021, the show began airing on BET following new episodes of The Oval.

[5][6] In a backdoor pilot during the first three episodes of The Oval, Ruth Truesdale (Melissa L. Williams) kidnaps her daughter Callie to join her and the sex-crazed members of the Rakudushis cult.

After helping to severely punish her rebellious, best friend Tally, she becomes an "Elder," a high-ranking member of the cult.

However, in order to be initiated into the position of Elder, she was required to be gang-raped by seven high-ranking cult members, including Andrew and Dikhan, in the presence of The Highest.

After being gang-raped, Ruth no longer wants to be a member of the cult and began planning an escape, along with her best friend, Tally.

He uses drugs to make newcomers black out and lose all memory in order to violently rape them.

It is revealed in Season one, episode seven, that Dikhan and The Highest have been in a homosexual relationship for twelve years.

Dikhan reports all wrongdoing of the cult members to The Highest and often recommends and inflicts their punishment.

[9] As production began during the height of the COVID pandemic, it was filmed in a quarantine "bubble" at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta.