PAPER GODS: John Legend and Nia Long Team With Sony to Bring TV Adaptation to ABC

John Legend and Nia Long Bring Paper Gods TV Adaptation to ABC

John Legend’s Get Lifted Film Co and Nia Long will team up with Sony Pictures TV to bring Goldie Taylor’s bestseller Paper Gods to ABC.  

According to Deadline, Nia Long, who has roles in Fox’s Empire and Netflix’s Dear White People, will star in and executive produce the project with Get Lifted co-founder Mike Jackson and showrunner Tash Gray also on board, whose credits include Starz’s P-Valley and FX’s Snowfall, among others.

Published in 2018, it’s the third book by Taylor, which also includes The January Girl, and In My Father’s House: The Autobiography of Gillespie Noble. Long will portray Victoria Dobb Overstreet, the mayor of Atlanta, who teams up with a reporter to try and solve a series of murders, only to uncover a political conspiracy. Long calls Overstreet, “a beautifully flawed and complicated character.”

John Legend has produced multiple documentaries and has been an executive producer on the 2016 blockbuster La La Land. “We’re so thrilled to be able to bring this incredible world Goldie created to life,” said Legend and other Get Lifted executives in a statement. “It’s going to be an incredible journey working with Nia…as we endeavor to learn more about this strong Black female who’s incredibly human and nuanced.”

No other cast or crew has been announced at this time. The show begins production later this year, but additional details were also not available.

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