‘King Shaka’ Event Series Not Going Forward At Showtime, Expected To Be Shopped
deadline.comEXCLUSIVE: Showtime has axed King Shaka, its upcoming epic drama series, executive produced by Antoine Fuqua, which tells the sweeping story of the Zulu Empire founder.
It marks the latest new series to be canned at the network before it has aired amid a programming overhaul at Showtime, which is being merged with sister streamer Paramount+ and will be renamed as Paramount+ with Showtime.
While King Shaka will not run on Showtime, the premium network is working on multiple other drama projects with diverse storytelling as part of recently announced three main programming lanes, including a project from The Chi showrunner Justin Hillian; Panda, from Fresh Off The Boat’s Eddie Huang; and Quiet In Her Bones, from writer Aminta Goyel.
Showtime also plans to add diversity to the Billions franchise as it is undergoing expansion with spinoffs. Deadline understands that King Shaka, which is being headlined by Charles Babalola, was permanently shut down over the weekend as it was wrapping production in the historic KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) South Africa province, the birthplace of King Shaka.
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