Barry Jenkins has signed a first-look television deal to exclusively create original series for Amazon through his production company Pastel, the digital giant announced Thursday.
The Oscar winner is already slated to direct all 11 episodes of Amazon’s upcoming limited series The Underground Railroad, about a slave on a plantation in Georgia who makes a disturbing discovery after escaping via the Underground Railroad.
“Barry is clearly a master of groundbreaking, authentically emotional storytelling and we are so proud to have him share that gift with us,” Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, said in a statement. “We are incredibly fortunate to have also secured his directorial vision for the entire limited series The Underground Railroad.”
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Jenkins added: “We at Pastel are excited to continue our Amazon relationship begun on Underground Railroad and look forward to growing that partnership on projects near and beyond.”
Produced by Pastel and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, The Underground Railroad is adapted from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling 2016 novel by the same name. The series will premiere globally on Amazon Prime Video.
Jenkins won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar — along with Tarell Alvin McCraney — for the 2016 drama, Moonlight.
His next film If Beale Street Could Talk opens Nov. 30.
