Octavia E. Plans for a film adaptation of Butler's original novel, The Kindred, have been circulating in Hollywood since the book's publication in 1979. But with the help of screenwriter Brenden Jacobs-Jenkins (" Watchmen "), the sci-fi story on end has found its place on the FX and Hulu channels. FX released the first full trailer on Tuesday, following an earlier teaser released last week that indicated the entire first season will be on Hulu this December.
Executive produced by Darren Aronofsky and Janichi Bravo ( Zola ), who also directed the pilot, Kindred takes a simpler approach to the sensational time-travel odyssey. Mallory Johnson ( WeCrashed ) plays Dana, a young black woman and aspiring writer who moves to Los Angeles to take control of her life. But as FX reports in the series' official synopsis, before Dana settles in, "she finds herself forcefully transported back in time to a 19th-century plantation to which she and her family are strangely and intimately connected . An interracial romance crosses her past and present, and the clock is ticking as she tries to face the secrets she never knew were in her blood in this genre-bending exploration of the ties that bind them."
The release of the full season of Kindred bears a striking resemblance to Amazon Studios' approach to The Underground Railroad , Barry Jenkins' 2021 TV adaptation of Coulson Whitehead's 2016 novel, which was released in its entirety last May 14. While the latter series won a Golden Globe for Best Miniseries or Best Television Movie, as well as a Peabody Award, one can't help but wonder if the series would have benefited from a wider audience by word of mouth. to have been realized. episodically. . And what better preparation for word of mouth than a sci-fi series based on an all-time classic book?
During his distinguished career, Octavia E. Butler was a Hugo Award winner and a MacArthur Fellow, but Kindred remains his most famous and influential novel. Let's see if the series adaptation can create the same connection with viewers when it releases in full on December 13.