Lena Waithe’s “The Chi” Heads To Showtime, Jason Mitchell To Star In Series

Lena Waithe, Common

Actress/writer Lena Waithe series The Chi has found a home. The Chicago set series will be executive produced by Waithe, rapper Common, Elwood Reid and Aaron Kaplan with “Straight Out Of Compton’s” Jason Mitchell to star. The coming-of-age series follows characters navigating the South Side of Chicago, where growing up can be a matter of life and death.

Jason Mitchell

Mitchell will play Brandon, an ambitious and confident young man who dreams about opening a restaurant of his own someday, but is torn between the promise of a new life and his responsibility to his mother and teenage brother.

Mitchell starred as Easy-E in the hit film, while Waithe stars as Denise on the Aziz Ansari’s Netflix comedy Master of None. Waithe, also co-produced the film now Netflix series “Dear White People” and was a writer for the Fox series Bones.

The Chi was originally picked up in 2015, but recently was redeveloped and recasted, with director Rick Famuyiwa, known for the film “Dope.”

Congrats!

By:@missjohnsonp_