Is America finally ready for a Black female president? Halle Berry is getting ready to find out.
The 59-year-old Academy Award winner’s company, HalleHolly, is gearing up to produce a wide array of TV and film projects, including an upcoming political thriller for Apple TV+ in which she takes her turn in the Oval Office, “The President Is Missing,” according to Deadline.
“New chapter unlocked,” the “Monter’s Ball” star wrote in the caption of an Instagram post sharing the announcement.
“Words can’t describe how excited I am for this second act in film and TV,” she continued, adding a shoutout to her partner and co-owner of the company, Holly Jeter. “Love you so much. You have been the best creative partner and friend I could ask for! To the moon!”
Based on the 2018 bestselling novel of the same name by President Bill Clinton and James Patterson, the story chronicles what happens when a terrorist threatens an attack so extreme it could send the United States into the dark ages. Naturally, the only person who can stop him is President Joanna Duncan (Berry). First, however, she must elude her own Secret Service detail and escape the heavily surveilled confines of the White House in a ruse to save the world entirely on her own.
After the novel landed in the No. 1 spot on The New York Times bestseller list, Clinton and Patterson moved to adapt it for the screen. It was initially picked up as a series for Showtime, with David Oyelowo attached to star, but that production fell through during the pandemic shutdowns in 2020.
For Apple TV+, Nicole Perlman (“Guardians of the Galaxy”) and David Chasteen (“CIA”) are stepping in to write the script.
The outlet also revealed that Berry’s company has several promising TV projects in the works, including “Zero F—s,” a comedy about menopause in development with Peacock. The series will center on a group of women entering their “second act” when the least liked among them ends up dead, and the rest take it upon themselves to solve her murder — which proves difficult when they can’t remember why they just walked into a room.
After reaching menopause herself, Berry has become a vocal advocate for this phase of women’s reproductive health. During an appearance at the U.S. Capitol in 2024, the actress spoke out about the stigma many women around the world face once they reach this stage.
“I’m in menopause, OK?” she said, drawing laughter from the crowd at the time. “The shame has to be taken out of menopause. We have to talk about this very normal part of our life that happens. Our doctors can’t even say the word to us, let alone walk us through the journey.”
