A super hot package for TV adaptation from the author of American Fiction‘s source material has sparked a bidding war and has three in-demand stars attached to star.

The Trees, based on Percival Everett’s 2021 novel of the same name, is in development at NBCUniversal’s Universal Content Productions (UCP). No network or streamer is attached to the project, which is a limited series, and there is currently a bidding war for it. Everett’s 2001 novel, Erasure, was adapted into the acclaimed 2023 film, American Fiction.

The Trees is courting Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown, Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Winston Duke to lead the series, in what Deadline calls one of “the biggest star-power packages to hit the TV marketplace in a while.”

The Chi‘s Marcus Gardley is writing the adaptation and is executive producing with Brown, Abby Victor, Selwyn Seyfu Hinds and Katie Zucker.

What is the plot of ‘The Trees’

As Deadline reports of the novel, “Everett’s The Trees is a fast-paced thriller that tackles racism and police violence. It opens with a series of brutal murders in the rural town of Money, MS. When a pair of detectives from the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation arrive, they meet expected resistance from the local sheriff, his deputy, the coroner, and a string of racist white townsfolk. The murders present a puzzle, for at each crime scene there is a second dead body: that of a man who resembles Emmett Till.”

The description continues, “The detectives suspect that these are killings of retribution, but soon discover that eerily similar murders are taking place all over the country. As the bodies pile up, the MBI detectives seek answers from a local root doctor who has been documenting every lynching in the country for years, uncovering a history that refuses to be buried.”

Brown would reunite with his ‘Washington Black’ creator

Duke and Brown are believed to be playing the two detectives. Brown has already collaborated with Hinds, starring in his Washington Black series at Hulu. He also has a connection to Everett, as he starred in American Fiction. Primarily known for their film work, this would be one of the biggest TV roles for Randolph and Duke.

The Trees

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