Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins, a character created by author Walter Mosley, is getting another shot on television after Amblin Television signed up to develop a series.
The production company has closed a deal to adapt Mosley’s stories – Rawlins has appeared in 15 novels and short stories – with The Americans and Amazing Stories director Sylvain White on board to direct the pilot episode and exec produce.
The series, based on the gritty detective novels, will center around Easy, a Black WWII Army veteran turned hard-boiled private eye. The show will be set in 1950’s Los Angeles and will honor the great traditions of storytelling in the detective genre, while also exploring the racial inequalities and social injustice experienced by Black people and other people of color.
It is the latest attempt to get Rawlins on to the small screen – John Wells attempted an Easy Rawlins series at NBC back in 2011 and USA Network also attempted a version seven years before that. The character of Easy Rawlins also previously appeared on screen in the 1995 film Devil in a Blue Dress, which starred Denzel Washington
Amblin Television co-Presidents Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey will also exec produce alongside Snowfall exec producer Mosley, his producing partner Diane Houslin for their company B.O.B. FilmHouse, and Jeremy Bolt of JB Pictures.
The books are set between the 1940s and 1960s and the series started with 1990’s Devil in a Blue Dress. Mosley’s latest Easy Rawlins novel, Blood Grove, released earlier this month.
Alex Maggioni, SVP Television, will oversee the day-to-day development of the project for Amblin, alongside Frank and Falvey.
White is represented by UTA, Artist First, and Jeff Endlich at Morris Yorn. Mosley is represented by CAA, Gloria Loomis, and Tom Selz.
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