Will Smith to play crime boss Nicky Barnes in Netflix’s The Council

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Shortly after his upcoming film for Ang Lee, GEMINI MAN, received heaps of praise from early viewers, it's been announced that Will Smith will star as crime boss Nicky Barnes for the upcoming Netflix drama THE COUNCIL.

According to reports, THE COUNCIL is being framed as an intense thriller that focuses on a crime syndicate consisting of seven African-American men who ruled Harlem in the 1970s and early 80s with the goal of establishing a self-sufficient and self-policing African American city-state, funded by revolutionizing the drug game. It explores the Shakespearean court intrigue in the council between Barnes and a rising protege.

The real-life Barnes partnered with the Italian-American Mafia on international drug distribution until his arrest in 1978. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and became a federal informant under the witness protection program. Barnes died in 2012 but his death did not become known until this year. (via Variety)

Smith will re-team with Peter Landesman for the upcoming project, who in 2015 wrote and directed CONCUSSION, a sports drama starring the INDEPENDENCE DAY actor that won him a Best Actor award courtesy of the African-American Film Critics Association. As per todays reports, Landesman will write THE COUNCIL for Netflix, which has Smith producing alongside James Lassiter for Westbrook Inc.’s Overbrook Entertainment. Meanwhile, Matt Jackson of Jackson Pictures and Jason Essex of Anonymous Nobodies will also produce.

With Disney's live-action adaptation of ALADDIN arriving as a bonafide money-maker, GEMINI MAN sounding like another smash hit in the making, and the hype for BAD BOYS FOR LIFE being very real, it sounds as if 2019 is the Year of the Smith! Here's hoping that the Fresh Prince's upcoming projects help to keep the actor's hot streak burning brightly as we march toward 2020. We'll be sure to bring you more info about THE COUNCIL as it becomes available.