The upcoming HBO horror drama Lovecraft Country from acclaimed writer/director Jordan Peele (Get Out) has expanded its all-star cast with the inclusion of Michael K. Williams (Hap & Lenoard) in a key role, according to The Wrap.
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The hour-long drama series is based on the novel of the same name by Matt Ruff, released earlier this year. The show will be written by Misha Green (Underground), who will serve as showrunner and executive produce. HBO gave Lovecraft Country a straight to series order. Lovecraft Country will follow “25-year-old Atticus Freeman, who joins up with his friend Letitia and his Uncle George to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America to find his missing father. The journey sets off their fight to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the malevolent spirits.”
Williams will play the role of Montose Freeman, father of Atticus, who is described as hard-headed and secretive and despises his son’s fantasy novels, as he believes there’s no way to live in any of those worlds, filling his shelves with nonfiction, history and political theory books. The 51-year-old actor joins the cast that includes Jonathan Majors (White Boy Rick) as Atticus, Jurnee Smollett-Ball (Birds of Prey) as Letitia, Wunmi Mosaku (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) as Letitia’s sister, Elizabeth Debicki (Widows) as Christina Braithwhite, Aunjanue Ellis (If Beale Street Could Talk) as Atticus’ aunt and Courtney B. Vance (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story) as Uncle George.
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Here is the official synopsis of the novel from Amazon: “Chicago, 1954. When his father Montrose goes missing, 22-year-old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his Uncle George—publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide—and his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Mr. Braithwhite—heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus’s ancestors—they encounter both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours. At the manor, Atticus discovers his father in chains, held prisoner by a secret cabal named the Order of the Ancient Dawn—led by Samuel Braithwhite and his son Caleb—which has gathered to orchestrate a ritual that shockingly centers on Atticus. And his one hope of salvation may be the seed of his—and the whole Turner clan’s—destruction.”
Lovecraft Country comes to us from Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions, Bad Robot and Warner Bros. Television. Peele and Green will executive produce with Bad Robot’s J.J. Abrams and Ben Stephenson.
