The cast for Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson has been unveiled and will star Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington.
According to a report from Variety, Jackson and Washington will join a star-studded cast that’s set to include Ray Fisher (Zack Snyder’s Justice League), Danielle Deadwyler (till, The Harder They Fall), Michael Potts (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), and Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton, The Tragedy of Macbeth). The film will be directed by Malcolm Washington from a screenplay he adapted with Virgil Williams.
The film will be an adaptation of Wilson’s 1987 play of the same name and will tell the story of the Charles family in 1936 Pittsburgh during the aftermath of the Great Depression.
The play follows Doaker Charles (Jackson), the head of the Charles household, and the heirloom of the family, a piano that is decorated with designs carved by ancestors who were slaves. According to the outlet, John David Washington will play Boy Willie—Doaker’s nephew.
The original play was a part of Wilson’s The Pittsburgh Cycle series, which also included the hit plays Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottomboth of which have also been turned into hit films.
Despite the film being new, the cast of The Piano Lesson have plenty of familiarity with one another. Jackson, Washington, Fisher, and Potts were all featured in a 2022 Broadway revival of the play, which ran at the Ethel Barrymore Theater and just recently concluded its run.