Hulu started this year with an impressive slate of original releases, including the fresh and unruly superhero comedy series Extraordinary, the season 2 debut of How I Met Your Father, and the upcoming limited docu-series The 1619 Project. The streaming titan continues to expand upon its original content with a mélange of stories and perspectives. Last August, Hulu gave the series order to The Other Black Girl based on the eponymous New York Times bestseller by Zakiya Dalila Harris. According to Variety, rising newcomers Shakirah DeMesier, Langston Kerman, and Cassi Maddox are officially joining The Other Black Girl as series regulars.
The trio’s characters have already been announced per the exclusive. DeMesier is playing the younger version of Diana Gordon when she is still an aspiring author on the brink of achieving a national bestseller with her novel “Burning Heart.” Audiences will see Diana’s story connect to the present day as an internationally renowned author with a strained relationship between her best friend and former Black editor at Wagner, Kendra Rae. Garcelle Beauvais stars as the present-day version of Diana.
Maddox will star as young Kendra Rae, a pioneer within publishing as the only Black female editor at Wagner Books in 1983. Unlike young Diana, who can fit and maneuver in any situation, Kendra Rae is nonconforming and speaks out against the publishing world’s racist structures during her press tour for Diana’s “Burning Heart.” However, shortly after her interview, she mysteriously disappears, leaving unanswered questions about Kendra’s fate and Wagner’s involvement.
Kerman will play Jesse Watson, a viral, outspoken Black activist who uses social media and YouTube as platforms to place society’s shortcomings and the everlasting plight of the Black community front-and-center. However, his views are polarizing, with his words sometimes inciting audiences towards an extremist side of social activism.
The trio joins the well-rounded previously announced series regulars Sinclair Daniel, Ashleigh Murray, Brittany Adebumola, Hunter Parrish, Bellamy Young, and Eric McCormack. Recurring guest stars include Beauvais, Brian Baumgartner, Alyshia Ochse, and Kate Owens.
The series revolves around the events of the book, with Nella (portrayed by Daniel) as the show’s center. The 26-year-old editorial assistant is tired of being the only black girl at her company Wagner, prompting her excitement when another young Black woman, Hazel (portrayed by Murray), is finally hired. After Hazel’s addition to the publisher, she begins to rise as the new “it girl” around the office. Simultaneously, Nella becomes plagued by the emergence of anonymous threatening messages that are bent on getting her to leave Wagner. Nella’s obsession unfurls as she discovers something sinister is going on at the company.
The Other Black Girl Is Inspired by True Events
The Other Black Girl is the NYT bestseller and debut novel from Zakiya Dalila Harris. The 2022 released book has been met with uninhibited praise for Harris’ success in capturing the often unspoken racism, sexism, and classism politics within seemingly progressive industries. In her satirical and suspenseful thriller, Nella is plagued by many systemically racist social behaviors that the Black community faces in corporate spaces, such as being overshadowed, isolation, microaggressions, and intra-community competition. The tension and animosity that mounts within the backdrop of the white New York City book publishing industry is a world familiar to the rising author. Turns out, the bestseller was loosely inspired by Harris’ time at a Penguin Random House-owned publisher.
Harris used to work for Knopf/Doubleday and spoke about her time in an editorial in an exclusive with The Guardian.
“I worked in publishing for two and a half years. I was an editorial assistant then promoted to assistant editor. I felt fortunate, as a part of me enjoyed editing and I felt I was good at it, but it’s also an exhausting job for an entry-level person in terms of the pay. I was also one of the very few black people in the company – it wasn’t as bad as Nella in the book, but I was the only black woman in editorial in a full-time position for a while. I thought: why does it feel like we’re living in 1955 still, in terms of what we value? Publishing is such a rich, easily spoofable world.”
The Other Black Girl comes to Hulu by way of Tara Duncan, the former Netflix executive turned current Freeform President who struck the initial deal in 2020. She is an executive producer on the project alongside Zakiya Dalila Harris, Rashida Jones, Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, and Adam Fishbach. In addition, Jordan Reddout and Gus Hickey serve dual roles as showrunners and executive producers for the upcoming project. Onyx Collective is producing The Other Black Girl for Hulu.
There is no set premiere date at this time, but the series has begun production.