Morris Chestnut is headed back to Martha’s Vineyard (IYKYK).
Morris Chestnut has been cast in a lead role of the Fox drama series “Our Kind of People. He joins previously cast Yaya DaCosta in Lee Daniels and Karen Gist’s project. Tasha Smith is also attached to direct the series.
Our Kind of People is a drama inspired by Lawrence Otis Graham’ non-fiction book Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class. It takes place in the aspirational world of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard. It is a historical stronghold where the rich and powerful black elite have come to play for more than 50 years.
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Gist took over writing the project from Wendy Calhoun. The series will follow single mom Angela Vaughn (Dacosta), who risks it all and moves her family to Martha’s Vineyard with hopes of taking her natural hair care line to the next level by infiltrating the African American elite in Oak Bluffs. But she soon discovers a secret about her past that just might change her position and shake up her life and this influential community forever.
Chestnut will play Raymond Dupont, the husband of Angela’s chief nemesis Leah Franklin Dupont, who has yet to be cast. Raymond is described as a powerful man, raised in wealth, who has “Obama swag and presence.” He is a top executive at a food conglomerate, but he has been struggling to revive the company after his white business partner Jack almost tanked the firm through mismanagement. A conscientious father, he is the soft place to land for his daughter. But ignores his son Quincy’s ambitions to become a professional basketball player, something that puts him at sad odds with his son.
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Smith will direct the pilot and second episode of the drama which received a straight-to-series order for the 3021-22 season.
This project has been in development since 2017 with Gist and Daniels coming on board in 2019. Gist is also the executive producer via TheGistofIt Produtions alongside Daniels who is executive producing under his Lee Daniels Entertainment banner. Ben Silverman and Montrel McKay are still attached to executive produce. Along with Silverman, fellow Propagate executives Jay Weisleder, Howard T. Owens, and Rodney Ferrell will also executive produce. Pam Williams and Marc Velez of Lee Daniels Entertainment will executive produce as well. 20th Century Fox Television will produce along with Fox Entertainment.
Chestnut currently appears in the Fox medical drama “The Resident.” He will continue on The Resident in addition to starring in “Our Kind of People.