Will Smith may serve as the patriarch of the Smith dynasty, but wife Jada Pinkett is no hausfrau.

Fresh from wrapping up a year-long stint on ‘Gotham,’ the seasoned actress will star as lead and executive producer on a new ABC pilot ‘Murder Town.’

Details below…

The series, which reportedly has a firm commitment from the network, sees Pinkett Smith play the role of a beautiful and complicated prosecutor who makes history as Wilmington, Delaware’s, first African-American district attorney.

There, she finds herself confronted by old loyalties and loves as well as a shocking revelation about her murdered husband and a polarizing, racially charged case that threatens to burn her and her city to the ground.

Interestingly, another network (A+E) is producing the show (a rare, but not uncommon practice) in partnership with Will and Jada’s Overbrook Entertainment.

ABC’s involvement with the series (which features a Black female lead) continues its trajectory of taking a head-on approach to bettering images of race in the modern media. Indeed, the channel houses shows such as ‘Scandal,’ ‘Black-Ish,’ and ‘How To Get Away With Murder’ – a writer from which (Rob Fresco) has penned the script for ‘Murder Town.’

At the time of her ‘Gotham’ departure, Pinkett Smith said of future TV projects:

“[I’d] be down to [find] a character who makes me want to go to work everyday, but I’d absolutely do more television. I love the pace of television. TV is so different from movies because of the pace. I think that people who survive doing TV can survive anything.”

Will ‘Murder Town’ be ABC’s next big smash? On paper, at least, it seems rich in its potential. The concept is compelling. {Source}

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Photo Credit: Don Flood