Colson Whitehead’s ‘Harlem’ Trilogy TV Show in Development at Apple (EXCLUSIVE)

Apple TV has acquired the rights to Colson Whitehead‘s “Harlem” trilogy, Variety has learned. The studio is in early development on an ongoing series based on the bestselling crime novels. The material includes 2021’s “Harlem Shuffle,” 2023’s “Crook Manifesto” and the recently published “Cool Machine,” which hit shelves on July 21 and made it onto Barack Obama’s summer reading list. Graham Yost (“Silo”) and Aric Avelino (“American Gun”) are adapting the books for the small screen, executive producing alongside Barry Jenkins (director of “Moonlight,” “Mufasa”), Adele Romanski (“Sorry, Baby”) and Mark Ceryak (“Aftersun”) of Pastel; Melissa Bernstein (“Breaking Bad”) of Special Interests; and Whitehead. Popular on Variety Whitehead’s “Harlem” trilogy is set in New York and spans the 1950s through the 1980s. Blending crime fiction with social satire, the series follows Ray Carney, a furniture salesman who can’t help but be drawn into the criminal underworld of Harlem. The first book, “Harlem Shuffle,” follows Carney in the 1950s and early ’60s as the neighborhood itself undergoes major economic and cultural changes. The second installment, “Crook Manifesto,” is set against the backdrop of riots and the rise of blaxploitation culture, tracking Carney’s increasingly complicated moral compromises through the 1960s and ’70s. And “Cool Machine” follows Carney’s story into the 1980s. Whitehead’s work is no stranger to screen adaptation. His novel “The Underground Railroad” was made into a 2021 miniseries by Jenkins for Amazon Prime Video. And his 2019 book “The Nickel Boys” inspired the 2024 film directed by RaMell Ross, which was Oscar-nominated for best picture and best adapted screenplay. Both novels won the Pulitzer Prize. Whitehead’s other books include the post-apocalyptic zombie novel “Zone One” and the modern reimagining of a Black folk hero “John Henry Days.” Whitehead is repped by CAA and Aragi, Inc.