John Boyega will join Milauna Jemai, Julito McCullum, and Kamahl Palmer in the upcoming HBO drama pilot from Spike Lee, Da Brick.

John Boyega will play the lead, Donnie, who after his release from juvenile detention on his 18th birthday begins an exploration of what it means to be a man for himself and those around him. Milauna Jemai will play Lynette, Donnie's mother, with him he reconnects with following a 14-month separation. Julito McCullum will play Kevin, Donnie's best friend and the one person he can't leave behind, no matter how much he may want to, and Kamahl Palmer is set as Malik, the moral center of Donnie's tight group of friends who is looking for direction between his middle-class upbringing and the harder realities of his environment.

Da Brick is described as a contemporary exploration of what it means to be a young, black man in a supposedly post-racial America.

The series will be set in Newark, N.J. No production date has been set.