Akende Munalula, Shacai O’Neal, Lily Keene, and Margot Catherine Terry are the latest to join the cast of the upcoming Showtime drama pilot, Coercion. They are cast as series regulars opposite Sydney Chandler, Sydney Park and Tyrone Marshall Brown.
Written and to be directed by Susannah Grant, Coercion is inspired by the life of Rebecca Bender, a national leader on and survivor of sex trafficking.
READ: Khris Davis, Sullivan Jones Cast in George Foreman Biopic — George Tillman Jr. to Direct
Coercion depicts Bender’s (Chandler) escape from the world of sex trafficking after six years, her struggles to return to a “normal” life, and her emergence as a confident, funny and impassioned advocate for justice.
Munalula will play Dev, a successful, wealthy Las Vegas-based human sex trafficker. O’Neal will play Mia, a sex worker. Keene will play Didi, also a sex worker. Terry will play Lexi, Rebecca’s younger daughter. Park will play Brandi, a high-end Las Vegas-based sex worker while Brown is cast as Dawson, a young special agent with the FBI who is tasked with doing something about the prostitution problem in Vegas.
Wiip is producing the drama with Grant, Bender, Gail Lyon, and actress Rosanna Arquette, who is a longtime advocate for survivors of sex trafficking, executive producing. Paul Lee and Hope Hartman of wiip also serve as executive producers.
READ: Red Table Talk Spinoff Toughest Opponent Is in Development to Address Mental Health in Sports
No release date has been revealed for the project.