We’re a step closer to getting Lena Waithe’s long-in-the-works series about a young queer black woman and her two straight BFFs. The Hollywood Reporter confirms “Twenties,” based on Waithe’s web series of the same name, has received an eight-episode series order at BET. The network is also the home of the Waithe-co-created “Boomerang,” which was renewed for a second season a couple weeks ago.
Originally ordered to pilot at TBS, “Twenties” is a half-hour comedy about “a queer black girl, Hattie, and her two straight best friends, Marie and Nia, who spend most of their days talking ish and chasing their dreams,” the source describes. The show is about “friendship, finding love, and messing everything up along the way.” Waithe created and wrote the original web series when she was in her early 20s.
Waithe and Susan Fales-Hill (“A Different World”) are among the project’s exec producers. Waithe’s shingle Hillman Grad Productions is producing.
“BET Networks is thrilled to partner once again with the creative visionary Lena Waithe,” remarked Connie Orlando, head of programming. “She is without a doubt a leading relevant voice of our generation and a disruptor in her own right.”
“‘Twenties’ has been a project I’ve been dreaming about for as long as I can remember. I think a lot of people were interested, but didn’t see the vision,” Waithe said. “I’m so grateful [BET prez] Scott Mills and Connie Orlando did. I couldn’t be more excited to deepen my relationship with BET. I know audiences have been waiting a long time for this one.”
In 2017 Waithe became the first black woman to win a comedy writing Emmy for her “Thanksgiving” episode of “Master of None.” She went on to create “The Chi.” The Chicago-set drama’s second season airs Sundays on Showtime.
Waithe was recently added to the cast of “Westworld’s” third season. The sci-fi is expected to return to HBO in 2020. She has a number of other projects in the pipeline, including “Them,” an Amazon series that will explore race in the U.S. through horror and supernatural storylines. In February she received a pilot order from Showtime for “How To Make Love To A Black Woman (Who May Be Working Through Some Sh*t),” an anthology series about sexual secrets that she’s exec producing. She wrote “Queen & Slim,” a feature drama about a black couple who go on the run after accidentally killing a police officer on their first date. Directed by Melina Matsoukas, the pic hits theaters November 27.
