“Madam C.J. Walker” is headed to Netflix. The long-brewing Octavia Spencer limited series has received an eight-episode order from the streamer, Deadline confirms. The Oscar winner was first linked to the project in November 2016.
Based on A’Lelia Bundles’ 2001 book “On Her Own Ground,” the series “tells the untold and highly irreverent story of black hair care pioneer and mogul Madam C.J. Walker (Spencer) and how she overcame hostile turn-of-the-century America, epic rivalries, tumultuous marriages, and some trifling family to become America’s first black, self-made female millionaire,” according to the source. Walker is the daughter of slaves and builds a beauty empire thanks to the “discovery of a revolutionary hair care formula for black women.”
Nicole Asher (“Love Beats Rhymes”) is writing the series and Janine Sherman Barrois (“Claws”) and Elle Johnson will serve as showrunners.
Kasi Lemmons (“Eve’s Bayou”) has signed on to direct the first episode of “Madam C.J. Walker.”
Spencer has another series on the way. She’ll topline and exec produce Apple’s “Are You Sleeping,” a psychological thriller that explores how a true-crime podcast changes the life of a woman who’s father was murdered. Nichelle Tramble Spellman (“The Good Wife”) created the series.
“When I was 26, they were trying to give me 50-year-old parts,” Spencer has said. “As a woman of certain physical attributes, people would like to see you in only a couple of archetypes, like the nurturer nanny or the sassy woman.”
A three-time Academy Award nominee, Spencer took home an Oscar in 2012 for “The Help.” She later received nods for “Hidden Figures” and “The Shape of Water.”
Spencer’s other upcoming projects include a holiday comedy co-starring Jessica Chastain and thriller “Ma.”
