David Farnor | On 28, Feb 2020

Ava DuVernay is teaming up with Amazon for a new adaptation of sci-fi novel Dawn.

Dawn is the first book in the Xenogenesis trilogy by the Hugo, Locus and Nebula award-winning author Octavia E. Butler. It is set in a world devastated by nuclear war with humanity on the edge of extinction, where aliens finally make contact. They rescue those humans they can, keeping most survivors in suspended animation and begin the slow process of rehabilitating the planet.

When Lilith Iyapo is ‘awakened’, she finds that she has been chosen to revive her fellow humans in small groups by first preparing them to meet the terrifying Oankali, then training them to survive on the wilderness that the planet has become. But the Oankali cannot help humanity without altering it forever. Bonded to the aliens in ways no human has ever known, Lilith tries to fight them even as her own species comes to fear and loathe her.

Ava DuVernay’s Array Filmworks is developing a series based on the novel, in partnership with Macro Television Studios. Array and Macro have been working on the project for a while, but now, the show has a creator on board, with Victoria Mahoney (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Lovecraft Country) set to adapt and direct the pilot. With Amazon also now involved, momentum on the series appears to be building.

Mahoney is the first woman to direct a Star Wars film, after serving as second unit director on the franchise, and has also worked on Netflix’s You and HBO’s upcoming Lovecraft Country. She has worked with DuVernay before on CBS drama The Red Line. DuVernay, meanwhile, may be known for Selma and When They See Us, but is no stranger to genre projects either, having helmed the feature film adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time. She is also currently at work on bringing DC’s New Gods to the screen.

Mahoney will serve as an executive producer alongside DuVernay and Macro’s Charles D. King (Mudbound, Raising Dion).

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