Rachel Hilson To Star In J.J. Abrams & LaToya Morgan’s ‘Duster’ As HBO Max Hands Out Official Series Order

Rachel Hilson will star alongside Josh Holloway in J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan’s period drama Duster as HBO Max has finally handed the project an official series order.

The project has been long in the works, it was first announced in April 2020, where it was seemingly given a series order by then HBO Max Chief Content Officer Kevin Reilly. However, that turned out to be development with a series commitment. It has remained active and recently landed an official series order after a pilot was shot.

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Hilson will star as Nina, the first Black female FBI agent, who in 1972 heads to the Southwest and recruits a gutsy getaway driver, played by Holloway, the first in a bold effort to take down a growing crime syndicate.

Keith David, Sydney Elisabeth, Greg Grunberg, Camille Guaty, Asivak Koostachin, Adriana Aluna Martinez and Benjamin Charles Watson also star.

Hilson is best known for starring in Hulu teen drama series Love, Victor after starting her career on CBS’ The Good Wife. She has also appeared on NBC’s Rise and This Is Us.

The eight-part series comes from Warner Bros. Television. Abrams and Morgan wrote the first two episodes, which are directed by Steph Green. The trio exec produce alongside Rachel Rusch Rich for Bad Robot, via its deal with Warner Bros. Discovery and WBTV. Morgan exec produces via her TinkerToy Productions, which also has a deal with the studio.

It comes as Abrams’ Warner Bros. Discovery partnership has been under the microscope for the last 12 months. His big-budget series Demimonde was axed at HBO after issues with budget, and two other projects – Constantine and Madame X were passed on by HBO Max. The Shining spinoff series Overlook also moved from HBO Max and was in the works at Netflix. Westworld was canceled after four seasons at HBO and My Glory Was I Had Such Friends was scrapped at Apple TV+ after Jennifer Garner pulled out.

Bad Robot does still have Presumed Innocent and a live-action reboot of Speed Racer at Apple as well as a U2 biopic series in development at Netflix.

Abrams said, “LaToya and I are thrilled at the chance to bring the wild, wily and wacky world of Duster to life, especially with this exceptional cast, crew and network.”

Morgan said, “Duster is an amalgam of all my favorite things – high octane storytelling with deep characters and so much heart. It’s a dream project and I’m supremely grateful to all the folks at Warner Bros. and HBO Max for believing in this show. And I couldn’t have asked for a better partner in crime than J.J. to build this incredible world.”

Sarah Aubrey, Head of Original Content, HBO Max, added, “We are delighted to bring this high-voltage crime caper from the brilliant minds of J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan to the HBO Max audience. This show has all the elements of a great Max Original, with propulsive storytelling, fantastic characters, and some truly bad-ass car chases.”

Abrams is repped by CAA and Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer, Morgan is repped by Eclipse Law and Hilson is represented by Neon Kite, CAA, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher.

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