Nine months after Spike Lee announced a series adaptation of his landmark debut film, 1986s Shes Gotta Have It, Netflix announced the shows release date and issued its debut teaser-trailer. The 10-episode project will launch on Thanksgiving, November 23rd.
Lee created, produced and directed the contemporary update of Shes Gotta Have It, which marks his first TV project.
DeWanda Wise stars as Nola Darling, a late-Twenties Brooklyn artist navigating career, personal and romantic challenges. Greer Childs (Divergents Cleo Anthony), Jamie Overstreet (The Book of Negroes Lyriq Bent) and Mars Blackmon (Hamiltons Anthony Ramos) play DeWandas three lovers. The cast also features Chyna Layne (Precious), Ilfenesh Hadera (Baywatch), Margot Bingham (Barbershop: The Next Cut), Sydney Morton (Love, New York) and Joie Lee (Do The Right Thing).
The original Shes Gotta Have It established Lee as an innovative director and helped revolutionize American independent cinema. The film, produced on a thin budget of under $200,000, went on to gross over $7 million and won Lee the Award of the Youth (Foreign Film) prize at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.
Lee announced plans for a potential series adaptation in 2014. In an interview with Deadline, he promised that the show will not feature the stupid and immature rape scene from the original film. If I was able to have any do-overs, that [scene] would be it, he said. It made light of rape, and thats the one thing I would take back. I was immature and I hate that I did not view rape as the vile act that it is.