Ava DuVernay Series Axed at Starz After Green Light on 3 Seasons

Starz is not moving forward with its previously announced Ava DuVernay series. Joshua Jackson and Lauren Ridloff were set to star in and executive producer the project.

The decision to pull the plug came down to DuVernay stepping away from the project, an insider familiar with the decision told TheWrap. This happened shortly shortly after the end of her overall deal with Warner Bros. Television Group in May.

The series had begun filming in March, but production was put on hold in May due to the WGA Strike.

The half-hour drama, which was about the romance between two “wildly different”people, did not yet have a title.

The logline for the show was: “One person is ambitious, while the other is restless. One is ready to commit, while the other debates the merits of relationships. One is Black and one is white. One is deaf and one is not. Though wildly different, the two are emotionally and physically drawn to each other despite personal expectations and public assumptions.”

It would had been a reunion for Jackson and Ridloff, who co-starred in the 2018 Broadway production of “Children of a Lesser God.”

This is the second recent series cancellation for Jackson, who led the Paramount+ series “Fatal Attraction,” a re-imagining of the 1987 film.

Ridloff, who starred on “The Walking Dead” from 2018 to 2022, most recently guested on an episode of the Fox drama “Accused.”

DuVernay’s next project, “Origin,” will have a one-week exclusive theatrical release in Los Angeles and New York in December, ahead of its scheduled rollout in January. It stars “King Richard” Oscar nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as a journalist who investigates the global phenomenon of caste and how the arbitrary hierarchy has influenced society. It’s based on the book by Isabel Wilkerson.

Variety first reported this story.

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