‘Dawn’ TV Series Coming To Amazon From Ava DuVernay And ‘Star Wars’ Filmmaker Victoria Mahoney
Ava DuVernayis teaming up with the first femaleStar WarsdirectorVictoria Mahoneyto develop a new sci-fi project at Amazon. DuVernay and Mahoney are developing aDawnTV series based on the Octavia E. Butler 1987 sci-fi novel of the same name which follows an African-American woman who works with aliens to resurrect the long-dead human race.Varietyreports that Ava DuVernay and Victoria Mahoney are teaming up to develop aDawnTV series at Amazon, adapting Octavia E. Butler’s 1987 sci-fi novel for the small screen. Mahoney, who made headlines last year as thefirst woman to direct aStar Warsfilm— taking on the role of the second unit director onStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker— will write the series as well as direct the pilot. DuVernay’s Array banner will be producing the series alongside Macro Television Studios, which had previously optioned the rights for the award-winning bookDawnis set 250 years after a nuclear war has wiped out all of humanity except for a handful of survivors saved by an alien species. Lillith, an African-American woman, works with the aliens to resurrect humanity in a three-part apocalytpic trilogy published by Butler in 1987, 1988, and 1989 (Dawn, Adulthood Rites, andImago, respectively). The series explores themes of “sexuality, gender, and race,” according to Variety.
Here is the synopsis for Butler’sDawnnovel:
Lilith Iyapo has just lost her husband and son when atomic fire consumes Earth—the last stage of the planet’s final war. Hundreds of years later Lilith awakes, deep in the hold of a massive alien spacecraft piloted by the Oankali—who arrived just in time to save humanity from extinction. They have kept Lilith and other survivors asleep for centuries, as they learned whatever they could about Earth. Now it is time for Lilith to lead them back to her home world, but life among the Oankali on the newly resettled planet will be nothing like it was before. The Oankali survive by genetically merging with primitive civilizations—whether their new hosts like it or not. For the first time since the nuclear holocaust, Earth will be inhabited. Grass will grow, animals will run, and people will learn to survive the planet’s untamed wilderness. But their children will not be human. Not exactly.
With an ambitious sci-fi premise and a diverse lead character (one named after the fallen first woman in the Bible at that!) it’s no wonder thatDawnappealed to DuVernay, who seems to be using her clout to boost another minority filmmaker. Mahoney too seems to be benefiting from the influence of herStar Warsgig, taking the lead forDawnafter years of helming episodes ofGrey’s Anatomy, American Crime, Claws, Power, You, andI Am the Night. It was on the OWN seriesQueen Sugarthat Mahoney made her connection with DuVernay, who created the series. Mahoney made her feature film debut in 2011 withYelling to the Sky.
No cast or release date has yet been set forDawn.
