Netflix is bringing the ’80s back again, and this time with the help of Spike Lee. After months of speculation and anticipation, Lee’s TV adaptation of his 1986 indie film debut She’s Gotta Have It, will land on Netflix on Thanksgiving Day.
Spike Lee will direct the entire 10-episode season, which he and his wife Tonya Lewis Lee will also executive produce. Each episode will have a runtime of 30 minutes, according to IMDB. This is Lee’s first foray in television with Netflix, and it was was greenlit in September 2016.
The original movie was Lee’s first feature-length film and it was shot in only 12 days. Set in New York City during the sweltering summer of 1985, the film centered on Brooklyn-based artist Nola Darling struggling to balance her love, friends, and work lives. August 8 of this year will mark the film’s 30th anniversary.
The spirit of New York City was integral to the original film, and Lee has been working hard at preserving it while making the TV adaptation. Weeks after the series was greenlit, Lee began holding open casting calls in New York City. He ended up giving the lead role of Nola to up-and-coming actress DeWanda Wise, who graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, as did Lee himself.
This will be the second Netflix original Lee will helm this year. Lee directed Rodney King, the one-man show by Roger Guenveur Smith about the controversial police beating of Rodney King in 1992. Rodney King debuted on Netflix on April 28. Lee’s 2016 film Chiraq was also the first original film from Amazon Studios.
The success of the She’s Gotta Have It TV adaptation could bring to life another revival from Lee’s illustrious archives that the famous director has been trying to get back on the screen. Since early 2014, Lee has discussed making a sequel to his 1998 film He Got Game which starred Rosario Dawson, Denzel Washington, and NBA legend Ray Allen. Lee has stated Dawson and Allen are ready to do it, but Lee is still waiting on Washington to get on board before he writes the script.
The 20th anniversary for He Got Game will occur in May 2018. So let’s hope Netflix keeps the nostalgia fever going strong.
