‘Black Cake’: Mia Isaac To Headline Hulu Drama Series

Nellie Andreeva
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Mia Isaac (Don’t Make Me Go) has been cast as the lead in Hulu drama series Black Cake, from Women of the Movement creator Marissa Jo Cerar, Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment. Up-and-comer Isaac is joining Tony winner Adrienne Warren in the project, written by Cerar based on the book by Charmaine Wilkerson.

Black Cake is a family drama wrapped in a murder mystery with a diverse cast of characters and a global setting that spans decades. The story takes place in Jamaica, Rome, Scotland, England and Southern California.

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In the late 1960s, a runaway bride named Covey (Isaac) disappears into the surf off the coast of Jamaica and is feared drowned or a fugitive on the run for her husband’s murder. Fifty years later in California, a widow named Eleanor Bennett loses her battle with cancer, leaving her two estranged children, Byron and Benny (Warren), a flash drive that holds previously untold stories of her journey from the Caribbean to America. These stories, narrated by Eleanor, shock her children and challenge everything they thought they knew about their family’s origin.

Isaac’s Covey is a fierce biracial teenager, growing up in Jamaica in the late 1960’s. As the star swimmer of her community, Covey plans to use her talents to swim around the world–until her dreams are threatened by her overprotective father, who begins to meddle in her personal life. As a result, Covey is put in a position where she must choose between her family and herself, and she spends the rest of her life facing the consequences.

Black Cake is executive produced by Cerar, Harpo Films’ Winfrey and Carla Gardini and Kapital Entertainment’s Kaplan, Brian Morewitz and Michael Lohmann. Harpo’s Emily Rudolf co-executive produces. Andrew Dosunmu is set to direct the pilot episode of the drama, which has a straight-to-series order. Jessie Abbott is overseeing for Kapital.

Isaac is a rising young star who has major roles in two films set for release in July. She will make her feature debut starring in Don’t Make Me Go for Amazon Studios, which will premiere at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival. The film, directed by Hannah Marks, follows a single father (John Cho) diagnosed with a potentially fatal brain tumor who takes his 16-year-old daughter Wally (Isaac) on a road trip to meet her estranged mother. Isaac also co-stars opposite Zoey Deutch and Dylan O’Brien in the upcoming Searchlight Pictures feature for Hulu, Not Okay, a comedy satire, written and directed by Quinn Shepard. She is repped by Osbrink Talent Agency, 3 Arts Entertainment and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.

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