A film adaptation of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is in development, and it’s shaping up to be a reunion before the Broadway run even closes.
Debbie Allen, who is currently directing the acclaimed revival at the Barrymore Theatre, has been tapped to helm the film as well. The project is backed by Denzel Washington and Todd Black. Washington secured the rights from the August Wilson estate to adapt all 10 plays in Wilson’s American Century Cycle, a series that chronicles the African American experience across each decade of the 20th century. Completing these adaptations has been described as a major goal for the remainder of Washington’s career.
The journey began with Fences in 2016, which Washington directed and starred in opposite Viola Davis. He then produced Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in 2020 and The Piano Lesson in 2024, the latter directed by his son Malcolm Washington. All three are streamable on Netflix. Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is next.
And Taraji P. Henson, who is making her Broadway debut in the revival as Bertha Holly, is already confirmed to carry the role into the film. The news came straight from Henson herself in a conversation with Playbill. “And after she’s done with Broadway, Henson is especially looking forward to starring in the film version,” the outlet noted, with Henson recounting that the film was part of her very first conversations with Allen about the project. “Debbie was like, ‘We’re gonna do the movie. But what do you think about the play?'”
The path to Joe Turner has been a personal one for Henson. She had been nudging producer Todd Black for years about joining the Wilson cycle. “I actually had been beating Todd Black up,” she told Playbill. “I was like, ‘Which play am I going to be in?’ And he was like, ‘You got to tell us which one you want to be in, which character.'” Before she could answer, Allen called with the offer to play Bertha — and it felt like more than coincidence. Henson had performed in a radio broadcast version of Joe Turner back in 2013, playing the role of Molly. Now, over a decade later, the play found her again. “Clearly, it’s this one. It found me,” she told Playbill.
Allen, speaking to Broadway.com, framed her own connection to the material with equal weight. “I saw the opening of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone in ’88,” she said. “My husband was an investor. It found me. It was time. It was right.” Of the opportunity to now direct the film, she added, “What an incredible diamond to put in my hand to see how I’m going to cut it.”
The Broadway revival, which opened March 30 at the Barrymore Theatre and runs through July 26, has received five Tony Award nominations. It stars Henson alongside Cedric the Entertainer as Seth Holly, Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Bynum Walker, and Joshua Boone as Herald Loomis.
Production on the film is reportedly set to begin later in 2026 after the Broadway run wraps.