Uzo Aduba to Star in Racially Inspired Drama Based on Alex Haley’s ‘Roots’

The Netflix hit Orange is the New Black brought us Crazy Eyes and Nigerian-American actress Uzo Aduba has managed to garner a loyal following, which has propelled her to “household name” status.

Once you have proven your marketability, the next step is to test the waters and hopefully tread it with gusto. It looks like Aduba is doing just that based on her new project.

It is a Southern drama titled Showing Roots that will also star Lost alumn Maggie Grace –  both gals will play beauty salon employees who are so riveted with Alex Haley’s Roots that they feel compelled to implement the themes of the show within their racially tense community. This breeds some deep seeded issues among residents, which in turn culminates into chaos and an ultimate shift in tolerance.

The film, which is set in 1977 is scheduled to shoot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and based on the logline, there is no doubt that it’s arrival will herald some attention based on the current racial strife paralyzing the nation. There is also no indication that things will be patched up nicely by the time Showing Roots is released so we can assume that it will be another perfectly timed racially inspired drama.