Showtime orders Shaka Zulu drama from Antoine Fuqua

Antoine Fuqua

ViacomCBS-owned Showtime has ordered a new drama series about Zulu Empire chief Shaka, from Antoine Fuqua.

Created and written by by Olu Odebunmi and Tolu Awosika, Shaka: King Of The Zulu Nation is being produced by CBS Studios, Propagate and Fuqua Films.

Fuqua, director of Training Day and the upcoming The Guilty, will direct and executive produce, alongside Ben Silverman and Rodney Ferrell of Propagate. Fuqua also previously directed the Showtime documentary American Dream/American Knightmare.

Writers Odebunmi and Awosika will also exec produce, as well as Howard T. Owens, Gregory Lipstone and Spencer Medof, with Scott Greenberg and Michael Callas to produce.

The series will follow Shaka’s journey from stigmatised childhood to his unlikely rise to power as warrior king in early 19^th-century Africa.

“This project offers a gateway to our past that is so critical to our global history and yet so often marginalized,” said Fuqua. “Through Shaka: King Of The Zulu Nation, we hope to bring this saga to life, all the tears, sweat and blood, all the joy and sorrow, all the intimacy and intensity and humanity. In short, we’re going to rock the world with this one.”