Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Entertainment
EntertainmentTelevisionTV

‘Boondocks’ Creator Aaron McGruder Creating Drama Series for Amazon

Posted byBy Kiersten Willis | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

“The Boondocks” creator Aaron McGruder is creating a new dystopian drama for Amazon.(@aaronmcgruder23/Twitter)

Aaron McGruder, creator of cult-favorite “The Boondocks,” is teaming with producer-director Will Packer to create a new series for Amazon Studios

The streaming service has bought an untitled drama project from the comic strip and animated TV show writer. Deadline reported McGruder and Packer, who produced the upcoming comedy “Girls Trip,” will serve as executive producers for the secretive effort, along with writer and producer Norman Aladjem.

Reports say the series is set in an alternative universe in the style of “The Man in the High Castle,” a drama that examines how the world would change if the United States’ Allied powers had not been victorious during World War II.

The show could be the next best thing for fans of “The Boondocks,” which emerged as a comic on The Hitlist Online in 1996. It’s success led to the creation of an animated series of the same name, which ran for four seasons from 2005 to 2014 on Cartoon Network with a one-year gap between seasons two and three and a four-year hiatus between the penultimate and final seasons. McGruder left his showrunner role on the program ahead of its fourth season, saying on Facebook that “nothing is more painful” than leaving his characters Huey, Riley and Granddad behind. He attempted to raise money for a “Boondocks” movie centered on the character Uncle Ruckus, but the fundraiser capped at $70,000 shy of its goal. In 2014, McGruder turned his efforts toward a new series called “Black Jesus,” which last aired on Adult Swim in 2015, the same Cartoon Network programming block that was home to “The Boondocks.”

Recent tweets show that fans are still longing for McGruder to bring back the adult cartoon sitcom.

https://twitter.com/mayaamor/status/823897996207263745

https://twitter.com/KingJohnLove/status/829204059869609984

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top