Netflix Gives ‘Dear White People’ TV Adaptation a Release Date and First Look
Indie favorite (and former IndieWire Project of the Year Winner) “Dear White People” is making the transition from feature to television series, and fans of the original are looking forward to seeing what happens when Justin Simien‘s tale of race relations becomes a serialized narrative.
READ MORE: All of IndieWire’s Netflix press event coverage
Fortunately they won’t have to wait too long, as Netflix announced Wednesday that the first season of the series, which includes episodes directed by the recently Oscar-nominated Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”), will premiere this spring, on April 28, 2017. The new version of Simien’s 2014 tale stars Logan Browning, Antoinette Robinson and Brandon P. Bell (the latter returning to the role he played in the original film) as college students processing racial prejudice on a college campus.
Simien told IndieWire last year that selling “Dear White People” to Netflix was a breeze compared to his experience trying to make the film: “It was the same concept that took me years and years to find financing for,” he said. “The only difference is that I was on the TV side.”
The 10-episode first season, Simien said during today’s press event in New York, will spotlight a different character with each episode. “You can’t really see the whole until you see the points of view that bring each character together,” he said. “I really wanted to take advantage of the Netflix streaming format, and create something that is specific to this platform.”
If you absolutely cannot wait to check out the series, “Dear White People” will make its U.S. premiere at SXSW 2017 in Austin, Texas, next month. In the meantime, check out the below teaser of what’s to come, as well as the first photo above of Browning as Sam White rocking the mic.
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