Rodney Barnes Joins HBO’s Jack Johnson Limited Series Starring Mahershala Ali As Writer & Executive Producer

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Winning Time executive producer Rodney Barnes has boarded HBO’s limited series project, set to star Mahershala Ali as boxing legend Jack Johnson.

Barnes, who is under an overall deal with HBO, will serve as writer and executive producer on the Untitled Jack Johnson limited series (fka Unruly), bringing a brand new take on adapting the PBS documentary Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, produced and directed by Ken Burns, and its companion book by Geoffrey C.

Ward. He is one of several new creative auspices who have joined the project in development, originally announced in 2020, along with Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim; Insecure), who has come on board as executive producer and director, and Khaliah Neal (The Last Black Man in San Francisco; P-Valley), who has signed on as executive producer.

Barnes succeeds Dominique Morisseau, who had been originally tapped to write the limited series from Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone.