André Holland and Don Cheadle will be teaming up for a new project coming to Apple soon.
Titled “The Big Cigar,” the forthcoming limited series—which is based off a 2012 Playboy article written by Joshua Bearman of the same name—will center around , “a well-heeled Hollywood producer with a coke problem and a soft spot for radical politics” who “smuggled Huey Newton, the leader of the Black Panthers who was awaiting trial on a murder charge, into Cuba in 1974.” Per , the six-episode series will see Holland in the role of Newton with Cheadle set to direct the first two episodes and executive produce.
Jim Hecht and Janine Sherman Barrois will also serve as an EPs, with the former set to pen the script while the latter serves as showrunner. Barrios currently serves as showrunner for OWN’s Kings of Napa and will do so for Apple’s upcoming series under her Folding Chair Productions banner, which has an overall deal at Warner Brothers TV. Hecht also currently serves as creator for the new Magic Johnson-centered series, Winning Time, which is available to stream now on HBOMax.
Holland, who is best known for his role as Kevin in the 2016 Academy-Award-winning, Barry Jenkins-direct film Moonlight, can currently be seen in the multi-award nominated Netflix film Passing, starring Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson.
Cheadle recently starred in the 2021 Space Jam reboot, Space Jam: A New Legacy, opposite LeBron James. Prior to that he led the popular Showtime dark comedy, Black Monday, starring opposite Regina Hall. The show went on for three seasons before being cancelled by the network back in January of this year.
As of now, there is no word yet on a potential production or premiere date.
Source: André Holland to Star in Don Cheadle-Directed Series About Huey P. Newton
