Jordan Peele’s upcoming HBO drama “Lovecraft Country” has added “The Wire” alum Michael K. Williams to its cast.
Williams will play Montrose Freeman, father to Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors). Described as “hard headed and secretive,” the character has always believed you can’t live in a fantasy world, which is why he despises his son’s pulp novels. Most of the books on his shelf are nonfiction, history, and political theory.
According to HBO, “The guys at the local bar call him a communist, but today we’d just call him conscious.”
Written by “Underground” creator Misha Green, “Lovecraft Country,” is a drama series based on the 2016 novel from Matt Ruff. It follows Atticus Freeman as he joins up with his friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father. This begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying monsters that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback.
Wunmi Mosaku, Aunjanue Ellis, Jamie Harris and Elizabeth Debicki also star.
Green will write the pilot and serve as showrunner. J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot’s Ben Stephenson will also executive produce alongside Green and Peele. Along with Monkeypaw Productions, the series is from Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Yann Demange is set to direct.