A long-delayed TV series focusing on Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of Emmett Till, will finally see daylight, thanks to executive producers Jay-Z and Will Smith.
The anthology series, which currently has the working title Women of the Movement, was picked up by ABC, which announced the project Tuesday, according to Vulture. Previously, the series had been languishing at HBO for several years; Vulture writes that Jay and Will were “key figures” in getting the show on television.
The first season of the series will center on Till-Mobley and her role in the civil rights movement after her son, Emmett, was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955. His murder—and her decision to tell the world, unsparingly, what happened to her son—helped galvanize people across the country to fight for racial justice.
As Billboard reports, the show will be loosely sourced from Devery S. Anderson’s book, Emmett Till: The Murder That Shocked the World and Propelled the Civil Rights Movement. The first season is slated for eight episodes.
A big-screen retelling of the life of Emmett Till, starring Taraji P. Henson as Till-Mobley, was put on hold after director John Singleton died earlier this year.