Ava DuVernay is bringing Octavia Butler’s ‘Dawn’ to television

'When They See Us' filmmaker set to bring the Mother of Afro-Futurism's Hugo Award-winning work to the small screen

Ava DuVernay is partnering with Amazon and Macro Television Studios to bring Octavia E. Butler’s sci-fi novel Dawn to the small screen.

Dawn Onley

Feb 27, 2020

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Ava DuVernay is partnering with Amazon and Macro Television Studios to bring Octavia E. Butler’s sci-fi novel Dawn to the small screen.

Victoria Mahoney, who made history last year as the first woman to direct part of the Star Wars movie, The Rise of Skywalker, will adapt Butler’s work to television and create the pilot. DuVernay’s Array production company will produce the work, according to Variety.

Mahoney, DuVernay and Macro Studios have been working on the project since 2017, Deadline reported. Now that Amazon has signed on, the project is expected to develop much quicker.

Dawn, which was published in 1987, is the story of a Black woman who teams up with aliens to resurrect the human race 250 years after they were destroyed in a nuclear war, according to Deadline. The book won a Hugo Award. Bulter is considered the “Mother of Afro-Futurism,’ sparking a generation of Black science fiction enthusiasts.

DuVernay is currently working on a documentary on Nipsey Hussle for Netflix. The Nipsey film marks DuVernay’s return to documentaries since putting out 13th, which was about mass incarceration and racism throughout the criminal justice system the criminal justice. Nipsey, 33, was killed on March 31, 2019, in front of his South L.A. Marathon Clothing store.

DuVernay also was behind Netflix’s When They See Us, which received 11 Golden Globes nominations, scoring one for Jharrel Jerome in the category of Outstanding Lead Actor. Jerome played Korey Wise. The series also won a 2020 Critics Choice Award for ‘Best Limited Series.’ When They See Us was a limited Netflix series that recounts the stories of the five Black teenagers dubbed the Central Park Five, who were wrongly arrested and convicted of raping a jogger in Central Park.

Mahoney has directed episodes for many hit TV shows, including Power, American Crime, Grey’s Anatomy. Her feature film debut, Yelling At The Sky, came out in 2011.