FX has ordered to series an adaptation of the profoundly influential novel Kindred, which has been hailed as a visionary work of science fiction since it was first published more than four decades ago in 1979.
What’s Happening:
- FX’s adaptation of Kindred is centered on Dana (newcomer Mallori Johnson), a young Black woman and aspiring writer who has uprooted her life of familial obligation and relocated to Los Angeles, ready to claim a future that, for once, feels all her own. But, before she can get settled into her new home, she finds herself being violently pulled back and forth in time to a nineteenth-century plantation with which she and her family are surprisingly and intimately linked. An interracial romance threads through her past and present, and the clock is ticking as she struggles to confront the secrets she never knew ran through her blood, in this genre-breaking exploration of the ties that bind.
- Kindred introduces Mallori Johnson alongside stars Micah Stock, Ryan Kwanten, Gayle Rankin, Austin Smith, Antoinette Crowe-Legacy and David Alexander Kaplan.
- Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Watchmen) will serve as showrunner and writer on the television adaptation of this classic work and executive produce along with Courtney Lee-Mitchell (The Reluctant Fundamentalist), Darren Aronofsky (mother!) and Ari Handel (One Strange Rock) of Protozoa Pictures, Joe Weisberg (The Americans), Joel Fields (Fosse/Verdon), Ernestine Walker and Merrilee Heifetz.
- The pilot of Kindred was directed and executive produced by Janicza Bravo, director and co-writer of the critically-acclaimed feature Zola.
- The eight-episode series will be produced by FX Productions.
What They’re Saying:
- Nick Grad, President, Original Programming FX said: “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.”