Ethan Hawke to star, executive produce Showtime series based on James Mcbride's novel The Good Lord Bride

Showtime has ordered an eight-part limited series on James Mcbride’s 2013 National Book Award for Fiction winner The Good Lord Bird, which will feature Ethan Hawke in the lead . Hawke will also executive produce the show.

The series will revolve around a young man Henry Shackleford, nicknamed ‘Little Onion’ and an abolitionist John Brown (played by Hawke). Narrated from Onion’s perspective, it tells the story of his encounters with Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and how he eventually takes part in the raid on Harpers Ferry. Although the raid failed, it became the primary instigator of the Civil War.

Hawke will also serve as one of the co-writers on the script, along with Mark Richard. The series will be directed by Anthony Hemingway, who will also executive produce.

McBride, describing Hawke as America’s “most gifted and literate actor”, said that it is the right time for The Good Lord Bird to be adapted. “I wrote it to show we Americans are family — dysfunctional, screwy, funny, even dangerous to one another at times, but still family nonetheless. Old John Brown always had a knack for landing into the right place at the right time. I’m delighted he’s landed in the lap of one of America’s most gifted and literate actors,” reports Variety.