History’s Roots reboot nearing green light with director Allen Hughes

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Back in 1977, Alex Haley‘s book ROOTS became the biggest and most talked about mini-series of all time. A little over a year ago, the news broke that cable network History planned to remake the series for a new generation. As we get closer and closer to that becoming a reality, the network has found their director.

Allen Hughes, best known as a part of the Hughes Brothers, has directed the films MENACE II SOCIETY, DEAD PRESIDENTS, FROM HELL, THE BOOK OF ELI, and most recently BROKEN CITY with Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe. Hughes recently directed the pilot for FOX’s GANG RELATED and would bring both big and small screen experience to the project.

With racially provocative films like SELMA and 12 YEARS A SLAVE proving big awards winners in recent years, bringing a new look at ROOTS would be very timely. Whether it would be as big of a hit as the original was almost 40 years ago is a question mark on the project, but History has had success with their mini-series like HATFIELDS & MCCOYS and VIKINGS.

Expect to see the new ROOTS sometime in 2016 at the earliest.