Kiki Layne to star in ‘Ring Shout’ based on novella

Kiki Layne, the star of 'If Beale Street Could Talk,' has booked another starring role in her young career

Dec 16, 2020

Kiki Layne is just getting started in her career, but her roles keep piling up. The If Beale Street Could Talk and The Old Guard actress may have started off as a romantic interest but she’s now putting together a string of action characters on the big and small screen.

Per Variety, Layne was just announced as the star of Ring Shout, a TV show for Skydance Television based on a novella by P.Djéli Clark released in October. In the book, the 1915 D.W. Griffith infamous ‘classic’ film is used to summon Ku Kluxes who are non-human entities of the human Ku Klux Klan. Lane will play Maryse Boudreaux, a monster hunter who is assisted by entities known as the Aunties as well as real-life fighters Sadie, Chef, a former Harlem Hellfighter, and a Gullah woman named Nana Jean.

The official synopsis reads:

Ring Shout tells the story of an otherworldly evil that has risen in the 1920s South in the form of monsters who take up residence within the bodies of people filled with hate – namely the Ku Klux Klan. D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” is helping to swell the Klan’s ranks and the monsters are drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of racism. Across the nation they spread fear and violence. But even monsters can die. Standing in their way is a young Black woman, Maryse Boudreaux (Layne), and her two friends and fellow resistance fighters – a foul-mouthed sharpshooter and a Harlem Hellfighter. Armed with blade, bullet and bomb, they hunt their hunters and send the Klan’s demons straight to Hell. But something even bigger is brewing in Macon, and the war on Hell is about to heat up. And Maryse, haunted by events of her past, is the only one who can put a stop to it all.

Kasi Lemmons will write, direct and be the showrunner for Ring Shout. She’s the veteran director of Harriet, Eve’s Bayou, and Talk To Me. Layne will be seen next in Coming to America 2 which will be released on Amazon in March.

Lemmons and Layne are among the executive producers of Ring Shout with several others.

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