Janelle Monáe playing Josephine Baker? Yes, please. The Hidden Figures star will portray the iconic singer and freedom fighter in A24’s upcoming series, De La Resistance.
The series is currently being feverishly fought for by streaming services, according to Deadline. And the drama will focus on Baker’s time as a spy for the Allies during the French resistance against Nazi forces during World War II, as well as her life as one of the world’s most beloved entertainers. De La Resistanceis created and showrun by Jennifer Yale (See, Outlander, Underground).
Monáe will also produce the series through their production company Wondaland. De La Resistance will join A24’s other TV series, Euphoria and Ramy. Chuck Lightning, Mikael Moore, Nate Wonder, and Dana Gills will serve as executive producers for De La Resistance for Wondaland. Angela Gibbs will also executive produce. And Damien Lewis — author of the upcoming book about Baker, The Flame Of Resistance — will serve as co-executive producer.
Nicknamed the “Creole Goddess,” Baker was a civil rights activist and the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture — 1927’s Siren Of The Tropics. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1906, but spent most of her career in France. She became a symbol of the roaring ’20s and the jazz age thanks to her memorable performances — her banana skirt and beaded necklace costume is particularly recognizable.
Baker’s service during WWII earned her several honors from French leader General Charles de Gaulle. During the Civil Rights movement, Baker refused to perform for segregated audiences and wrote articles about racism in America. She also gave speeches at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), and in 1963, she spoke at the March on Washington alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Following King’s assassination, Coretta Scott King offered Baker a leadership role in the movement, but Baker turned down the offer, saying her children were “too young to lose their mother.”
Monáe’s autobiography about their Grammy-nominated album Dirty Computer, The Memory Librarian, is a newly minted New York Times Best Seller. They will soon appear in Knives Out 2 and recently starred in Homecoming on Prime Video.
De La Resistance, Series Premiere & Streaming Platform, TBA