National Geographic, with Imagine Television Studios and Fox 21 Television Studios, announced the cast that will be joining previously announced Cynthia Erivo as Aretha Franklin, in the next installment of the Emmy-winning global anthology series Genius: Aretha.

https://youtu.be/gVGhlxITkco

Malcolm Barrett, Patrice Covington, Kimberly Hébert Gregory, Rebecca Naomi Jones and Sanai Victoria will star in the eight-episode global limited series. Additionally, Anthony Hemingway is tapped to serve as executive producer and direct the pilot episode of the upcoming season, the first-ever, definitive and only authorized scripted limited series on the life of the universally acclaimed Queen of Soul.

Barrett joins as Ted White, Aretha’s first husband and business manager, who develops relationships with songwriters and producers and picks some of her biggest hits. But as Aretha gains fame, White’s heavy drinking and volatile behavior ends their marriage. Covington and Jones will portray Erma and Carolyn Franklin, respectively, Aretha’s sisters, who are both talented performers in their own right and sing backup for Aretha. Hébert Gregory will play Ruth Bowen, a pioneer in her field, the head of a successful black-owned agency, who represents Aretha, booking her into world-class venues and getting her onto the covers of Time and Ebony magazines. Victoria will be Little Re (young Aretha), the shy, immensely talented daughter of celebrated Detroit preacher Clarence LaVaughn (C.L.) Franklin, who thrusts her into the spotlight at a very young age.

Prolific producer and director Hemingway, will serve as an executive producer and direct the pilot episode of Genius: Aretha. Hemingway directed and executive produced productions seen such as Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and Underground.

Hemingway received the 2017 African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) Horizon Award and has garnered Emmy, Golden Globe, PGA, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and BAFTA TV Awards for his work on The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.

Filming will start this December for a 2020 premiere on National Geographic channels in 172 countries and 43 languages.

National Geographic, the company behind the recent Oscar-winning and seven Emmy-winning Free Solo, in 2017 premiered the first season of Genius, which starred Geoffrey Rush as the brilliant scientist Albert Einstein. Biller was showrunner and creator for the multi-Emmy-winning Genius: Picasso and Genius Einstein. The latter earned 10 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Limited Series, as well as Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations for Rush. The follow-up series to Einstein’s story, starred Antonio Banderas as the titular Spanish painter and matched much of the success of its predecessor, earning seven Emmy nominations — and two wins — as well as Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations for Banderas.

The Queen of Soul, will be taking her Small Screen place as a Genius, in 2020

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Starring Antonio Banderas and Alex Rich in the joint role of Pablo Picasso, this 10-Episode Series hails from Fox 21 Television Studios and Imagine Television and is executive produced by Academy Award Winners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, with a feature length Premiere on 22 April 2018.

Clémence Poésy, Robert Sheehan, Poppy Delevingne and Aisling Franciosi feature alongside returning cast from season one, Samantha Colley, with appearances by T.R. Knight, Seth Gabel and Johnny Flynn.

Few painters have been as awe-inspiringly prolific as Pablo Picasso. One of the most influential and celebrated artists of the 20th century, his career spanned more than 80 of his 91 years, during which time he produced an estimated 50,000 works. His passionate nature and relentless creative drive were inextricably linked to his personal life, which included tumultuous marriages, numerous affairs and ever-shifting political and personal alliances. Constantly reinventing himself, Picasso always strove to innovate and push the boundaries of artistic expression, leading to his worldwide renown as a genius.

Premiering on 22 April 2018 at 20h05, the second season of National Geographic’s Emmy-, Golden Globe-, and Screen Actor’s Guild Award-nominated 10-part global event series, Genius: Picasso, explores the Spanish expatriate’s devotion to his craft, his contribution to modern art and his turbulent personal life. The new season, from Fox 21 Television Studios, is executive produced by Brian Grazerand Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment, MWM Studios and EUE/Sokolow Entertainment. Showrunner, executive producer, writer and director Ken Biller also returns.

Antonio Banderas brings to life the artistic career of the titular artist: Pablo Picasso. Joining him as the younger Pablo is Alex Rich, who rejects academic study and joins the circle of young bohemian artists and writers struggling to make it in early 20th century Spain and France.

Clémence Poésy portrays Françoise Gilot, a French painter and best-selling author whose decade-long affair with Picasso yielded two children.  Sebastian Roché is Emile Gilot, Francoise’s tyrannical father. Robert Sheehan plays Carles Casagemas, Poppy Delevingne portrays Marie-Thérèse Walter, and Aisling Franciosi of Game of Thrones, acts as Fernande Olivier, a French artist and model, of whom Picasso painted more than 60 portraits.

Returnig to the Genius Series, is Samantha Colley, who will play Dora Maar, a French photographer and painter who was also Picasso’s lover and muse.  Grey’s Anatomy’s T.R. Knight will play Max Jacob, with Seth Gabel and Joghnny Flynn in the roles of Guillaume Apollinaire and Alain Cuny respectively.

The second season of the acclaimed series began production in 2017, filming in many locations where Picasso himself once lived and worked. This included a three-day shoot in Málaga, Spain — birthplace of both Picasso and Banderas — where production filmed in the same house in which Picasso was born, the church where he was baptised and the bullring where he found much inspiration in his youth.

Genius: Picasso is executive produced by Imagine’s Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Francie Calfo, and co-produced by Anna Culp; showrunner, executive producer, writer and director is Ken Biller. From MWM Studios, Gigi Pritzker and Rachel Shane are executive producers and Melissa Rucker is co-producer. Sam Sokolow and Jeff Cooney from EUE/Sokolow Entertainment are also executive producers. For National Geographic, Carolyn G. Bernstein is executive vice president and head of global scripted development and production. The series is produced by Fox 21 Television Studios, Imagine Television and MWM Studios.

Genius, Season 2, (10 episodes) starts 22 April 2018 on National Geographic, at 20h05, and will premiere with a double bill.

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