Deadline reports that FX, the cable network behind "Atlanta" and "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story," announced the renewal of one racial identity-focused program and unveiled pilot footage for another at the Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour yesterday (August 9).
Network executives addressed "Snowfall‘s" second season greenlight and "Mayans MC‘s" forthcoming pilot episode during executive sessions at TCA panels in Beverly Hills. "Snowfall," co-created by John Singleton, zeroes in on Los Angeles during the early-1980s proliferation and demonization of crack cocaine in impoverished neighborhoods of color. It stars Damson Idris ("City of Tiny Lights") as drug dealer Franklin Saint and Emily Rios ("The Saint") as organized crime family member Lucia Villanueva and follows them as the burgeoning narcotic industry grows in their respective neighborhoods.
Singleton talked about the show’s renewal and themes to Deadline and other media assembled at the "Snowfall" cast and crew’s TCA panel.
"A lot of things that are happening in this show have only being chronicled in music, specifically in West Coast hip-hop in the last 30 years," says Singleton, whose 1991 film "Boyz N The Hood" explored similar issues to the series. "So I think the younger people are looking at it serendipitously as, this is the kind of, like, the lore that they’ve heard about, but never seen depicted." "Snowfall" is six episodes into its 10-episode first season. FX has not yet released a premiere date for the second season.
Deadline also reports that FX aired part of the "Mayans MC" pilot episode in a video previewing the new FX+ streaming service, which Variety says lets subscribers pay $6 a month to access all of FX’s past and current programs without ads.
"Mayans MC" is a spinoff from the network’s "Sons of Anarchy," which followed the inner and outer turmoil of a mainly White California biker gang. The upcoming series takes its name from a fictional Latinx outlaw motorcycle club that was featured in "Sons" as the main adversary and occasional ally.
According to its International Movie Database (IMDb) page, "Mayans MC" stars JD Pardo ("Revolution") as Ezekiel "EZ" Reyes, a prospect (or trial member) for a Mayans chapter on the California-Mexico border. The show’s predominantly Latinx cast also includes Carla Baratta ("Prueba de Fe") and Alexandra Barreto ("Justified") in starring roles. FX did not announce a series premiere date, but Deadline reports that the crew will reshoot the pilot episode.
FX also has another series helmed by a person of color in the works: Regina King‘s ("The Leftovers") "No Safe Place," an adaptation of Kim Reid’s 2007 memoir of the same name. Like the book, the series will follow Reid’s adolescence as her Fulton County investigator mother probes the numerous real-life killings of Black children and young adults in metropolitan Atlanta between 1979 and 1981.