Slavery and race are hot topics in Hollywood right now, as films from Django Unchained to 12 Years A Slave continue to focus on that dark period of American history. Now, the industry is reportedly looking to remake one of its most beloved takes on the subjects, the miniseries Roots.
The History Channel has acquired the rights to the original 12-hour 1977 series from the late producer David L. Wolper’s son, Mark Wolper, reports Deadline, which first reported the news. History also got the rights to Alex Haley’s book, Roots: The Saga of an American Family, on which the original series was based.
The new Roots will run eight hours and Mark Wolper will executive produce. Talks have already started with a number of writers, who will look for inspiration from the original series and the book.
Roots first aired on ABC in 1977 and drew the attention of the entire country, with 100 million viewers tuning in for the last episode. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it drew a whopping 37 Emmy nominations, winning nine. It won Outstanding Limited series, supporting actor (Ed Asner) and for Quincy Jones’ score.
History has had an incredibly successful track record with original programming, starting off with hatfield & McCoys, Mark Burnett’s The Bible and the Vikings series. Adrien Brody is working on a new miniseries called Houdini for the network.
image: Amazon