A new television series is in the works at Sony Pictures Television’s TriStar based on the life of Malcolm X. According to Variety, the series will be based on the novels X: A Novel and The Awakening of Malcolm X, both of which were co-written by Malcolm’s daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz.
X: A Novel, co-authored by Kekla Magoon, follows the Black activist’s life from early childhood — including his father being lynched and his mother being institutionalized against her will — up to his imprisonment at age twenty. The Awakening of Malcolm X, co-authored by Tiffany D. Jackson, details his time in prison and his decision to join the Nation of Islam, which would ultimately transform him from street hoodlum Malcolm “Detroit Red” Little into the internationally renowned and defiant leader against white supremacy Malcolm X.
Shabazz will executive produce the series along with State Street Pictures’ Bob Teitel and Soul Food and Men of Honor director George Tillman. State Street has a first-look deal with Sony as the project is in the beginning stages and has yet to be greenlighted for production. 3 Arts Entertainment’s Jermaine Johnson and Molly Madden are also executive producers of the pending project.
Ilyasah Shabazz is the co-chair of The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center located at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, New York, which was the site of her father’s assassination in 1965. She is also a noted educator, activist, and motivational speaker. Shabazz has penned several other books including Growing Up X, the children’s book Malcolm Little: The Boy Who Grew Up to Become Malcolm X, and Betty Before X.
A documentary about the relationship between Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali will also be released on Netflix on Sept. 9 called Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali. That project is being produced by Kenya Barris and his Khalabo Ink Society production company.
