Gabrielle Union is taking her talents to HBO Max.
The actress and producer is set to executive produce and is in discussions to star in Debbie, a new legal drama series currently in development at the streamer. Union would play Debbie Powell, a once feared Atlanta attorney whose very public downfall forces her to start over as a public defender, using the same skills, connections, and relentless drive that made her one of the city’s most formidable lawyers to now fight for those the system has left behind.
The series is described as an elevated legal drama procedural exploring the cost of reinvention and the fine line between justice and survival.
Debbie is written and executive produced by Bradley Bredeweg, co-creator of Freeform’s The Fosters and its spinoff Good Trouble, alongside Matthew Thomas, co-creator of Channel 5’s Missed Call. Union executive produces through her production company I’ll Have Another, alongside Bredeweg, Thomas, and Jenny Frankfurt.
The project fits into Max’s growing procedural strategy, which has been modeled after the success of the Emmy winning medical drama The Pitt. The streamer has been actively developing across all three classic procedural lanes. On the legal side Debbie joins the slate. On the cop side Max has pilot American Blue in addition to David E. Kelley’s Welcome to Catalina, based on Michael Connelly’s novel Nightshade. The Pitt represents the medical lane.
Union, known for Being Mary Jane, L.A.’s Finest, and Truth Be Told, recently appeared in the comedy horror film Forbidden Fruits and the animated project Goat. She will next be seen in The Casket Girls.
No premiere date has been announced for Debbie.