Small Screen: Introducing Isa Rae's New Production Company HOORAE; Jodi Turner-Smith as Anne Boleyn
Sean Blakemore - OWN
Broadcast: The CW is rebooting The 4400, the science fiction drama series from 2004 that premiered on the USA Network. Behind the project are co-producers Ariana Jackson and Anna Fricke. The former helmed the adaptation of the Archie Comics (aka Riverdale) and the latter known for her successful reimagining of Walker, Texas Ranger. 4400 will star Brittany Adebumola from Grand Army, Jaye Ladymore from The Chi, and Amarr Wooten from Colin in Black & White. Adebumola will play Shanice, a “driven wife, mother and lawyer from 2005.” Ladymore will be taking on the role of Claudette, a “preacher’s wife from the 1950s active in the Civil Rights Movement. Finally, Wooten is playing an institutionalized patient from the 1930s brought to 2021 unable to speak. Jackson penned the pilot episode with Erica Watson attached as executive producer and director.
The U.K. Channel 5 just dropped a 20-second teaser trailer for their new show Anne Boleyn. Attached as the titular role is Jodie Turner-Smith, of Queen & Slim fame. The series is a new take on the famous queen because she was historically white. Attaching a POC for the role is intentional and works as a comparison for the struggles women in Boleyns time faced with those same struggles women of color face today. According to Turner-Smith “There's so much about her story that feels modern. It's one I can relate to as a Black woman, and it shows how little has changed in terms of our desire to tear down powerful women, to not let them live in their truth." the will unravel over three parts. The psychological drama follows Anne up until her infamous death by beheading. Novice writer Eve Hedderiwick Turner penned the script with Lynsey Miller from Deadwater Fell attached to direct. Other actors involved with the project are: Paapa Essideu from I May Destroy You portraying George Boleyn, Mark Stanely from White House Farm as King Henry VIII, and Lola Petticrew from Dating Amber Jane Seymour.
General Hospital will see a return from Shawn Butler. A report from Soap Opera Digest suggests that the daytime Emmy Award Winner Sean Blakemore will return in the role. He played this character from 2011-2015 even reprising the role in 2016 when Butler was last seen being imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. During his stint away from the show, Blakemore has not slowed down. He can be seen on series like Devious Maids, Greenlead and BET’s The Quad. Blakemore is the best casting choice for the role bringing emotional depth that other actors could not accomplish. It will be nice to see him return.
Tyler Perry - Tyler Perry Productions
Cable: From the stage to the silver screen, Tyler Perry’s Madea is now headed to television. Created by Perry and TIm Palen, Showtime is developing a drama series titled Mabel. An origin story for the loud and proud Madea character. The show is considered a high-profile project and has received a multiple-script order. It is being written by JaNeika James and JaSheika James. According to the show’s official description: “every great story has to start somewhere and every legend has a beginning. Long before she was the force of nature known as Madea she was a smart, fierce, irresistible, dangerous, crazy 20-something black woman named…Mabel Simmons. When she moved to Atlanta in 1972 she set the city – and the world – on fire!” Perry, Palan and James’ will also be executive producing.
Adrienna Wells and Vic Mensa are both joining new shows. Showtime’s 1980s wall street centered Black Monday has cast Wells in a recurring role. She will portray Nomi, a talented young self-possessed girl with a cannon of a voice. She catches the eye of Don Cheadle’s Mo for a new business venture and becomes the crowning achievement in the investment. Black Monday is also executive produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Vic Mensa, known for his successful rapping career, is joining Lena Waithe’s The Chi. He will play antagonist Jamal, a passionate but easily set off man fighting to get help for his sister and girlfriend. The Show was created by Waithe and is executive produced by the former with Common attached as E.P. as well.
zoe Saldana - Frazer Harrison
Streaming: Netflix is adapting Tembi Locke’s best selling memoir From Scratch into a limited series. Zoe Saldana, from Guardians of the Galaxy fame has been cast as the female lead opposite Eugenio Mastrandrea, from La Fuggitiva and The Girl From Last Century. Other actors attached to the project are: Danielle Deadwyler from The Harder They Fall, Keith David from Greenleaf, Kellita Smith from Z Nation, Judith Scott from Dear White People, Lucia Sardo from Picciridda, Paride Benassai from Felicia Impastato, and Roberta Rigan from I Know This Much Is True. Deadwyler is portraying Amy’s older sister and closest friend Zora. David’s character is Hershel, a formal civil rights leader and Amy’s father. While Smith is set to play Amy’s judgemental mother Lynn. Adapted for TV by Locke’s sister, Attica Locke, From Scratch is the story of an African American woman Amy (Zoe Saldana) who falls in love with a Sicilian chef while studying abroad in Florence and goes on to build a life with him in Los Angeles, merging two seemingly opposite cultures.
The breakout star of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Adepero Oduye, has just signed on to Apple’s new drama series about Hurricane Katrina entitled Five Days at Memorial. Oduye will play Karen Wynn, nurse manager of the intensive care unit at Memorial Hospital and the head of its ethics committee. The limited series will be helmed by John Ridley, known for 12 Years a Slave and American Crime, and Carlton Cuse, known for Lost and Bates Motel. Based on Sheri Frank’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, the show tracks the five day aftermath of the devastating 2005 hurricane and takes place in a New Orleans hospital. “Amid rising flood waters, stifling heat and failing power, exhausted caregivers at the hospital were forced to make life-and-death decisions that would haunt them in the years to come.”
Industry: Isa Rae known for her starring roles in her web series the Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl or her HBO show Insecure, is the CEO of the new production company Hoorae. This media hub includes her other facets such as Raedio, which is a music label, the Isa Rae Productions, her original production company, and Color Creative, production/ management company for multi-hyphenates . The name Hoorae stems from the term hooray and on a personal note, pays homage to Rae’s aunt, a visual artist who started an initiative in the Bay Area called Hooray for the Arts. Like this initiative Hoorae is all about other Black artists and creators receiving the recognition they deserve. Talitha Watkins is the acting president and manager of Color Creative. Raedio is an audio everywhere company with Benoni Tagoe as president. This label allows artists to own their masters and have a say in creative development.
