Since we learned in 2021 that FX was working on an adaptation of Octavia Butler’s novel Kindred, we’ve been eagerly awaiting more news. Now, The Hollywood Reporter reports that the adaptation has landed a series order at FX.
The network ordered a pilot in March written by playwright and MacArthur Genius Award-winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. The pilot, which began production in September, was directed by Janicza Bravo, who is known for her work on projects like Zola, Atlanta, and Dear White People.
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Nick Grad, President of Original Programming at FX, said of the series order news:
“Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has done a phenomenal job of adapting Kindred for FX and honoring the legacy and timeless value of Octavia Butler’s groundbreaking novel. The pilot directed by Janicza Bravo is brilliant, and we can’t wait to resume production with this incredibly talented and dedicated cast.”
The series stars recent Juilliard grad Mallori Johnson as the lead, Dana Franklin. Joining her are Micah Stock, Ryan Kwanten, Gayle Rankin, Austin Smith, Antionette Crowe-Legacy, and David Alexander Kaplan.
Jacobs-Jenkins will serve as showrunner and will executive produce alongside Courtney Lee-Mitchell, who holds the rights to the book; Protozoa Pictures’ Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel; Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, executive producers of FX’s hit The Americans; Ernestine Walker; and Butler's literary agent Merrilee Heifetz.
Butler’s 1979 novel follows Dana (Johnson), a young Black woman and aspiring writer who lives in California. Before she can settle into her new home with her white husband, she is pulled back in time to a 19th-century plantation. As she continues to travel back and forth between the past and the present, she discovers a disturbing link between her own family and the plantation. In order to save her own future, she will have to reckon with the horrors of the past.
The Kindred TV show is one of numerous adaptations of the late Butler's work currently in development. Other projects include an A24 film adaptation of Parable of the Sower, an Amazon TV adaptation of Dawn from director Ava DuVernay, and an Amazon series adaptation of Wild Seed co-written by Nnedi Okorafor.
Want more Butler? Download her work below!
[Via The Hollywood Reporter]
