HBO Max has assembled a powerhouse team of Keke Palmer, Jermaine Crawford, and Amy Aniobi to develop its latest comedy series Unfriendly Black Hotties per Variety. The official logline describes the show as a "comedic satire exploring Gen Z's weaponization of political correctness told through the eyes of four high school girls." All three will serve as co-writers and executive producers on the series.
Palmer is a hot commodity right now coming off a stellar performance in Jordan Peele's Nope as well as recent appearances in Lightyear, Alice, and The Proud Family reboot Louder and Prouder among other things. Her star has been rising for some time now, though as she's also delivered a fantastic performance in Hustlers opposite Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu and an Emmy-winning turn as five different characters in Turnt Up with the Taylors. She's also been a regular fixture of Netflix's Big Mouth universe, appearing in the original series and starring in its spinoff Human Resources. Palmer's talents extend far beyond acting, however, as she's also found success as a singer-songwriter, producer, and writer, previously creating the series That's the Gag.
For Crawford, Unfriendly Black Hotties will be a first as he's never been credited as a writer. He has, however, been a strong presence in front of the camera with his most notable turn being as Duquan Weems in the legendary series The Wire. Since then, he's made occasional appearances throughout film and television including spots in Person of Interest, The Get Down, and We Own This City, the latter of which re-teamed him with the people behind The Wire.
Aniobi rounds out the group, bringing her experience writing for hit series like Insecure and Silicon Valley to the table. She earned an Emmy nomination for the former as part of the team behind the series including creators Issa Rae and Larry Wilmore. Her experience also goes back to other comedies like The Michael J. Fox Show and Lisa and Amy Are Black. HBO should be very familiar with her work as she was also the head writer, showrunner, and executive producer of 2 Dope Queens for the network. For Unfriendly Black Hotties, she'll serve as an executive producer through her SuperSpecial Inc. banner.
Who Else Is On Board the Production of Unfriendly Black Hotties
Alongside Rae, Crawford, and Aniobi, Unfriendly Black Hotties will feature Lenoria Addison as an executive producer. Big Boss Entertainment and SuperSpecial Inc's Aanch Khaneja is also part of the production team. The series is a joint production between HBO Max and Entertainment One. Both Aniobi and Palmer have overall deals with HBO and eOne respectively.
Stay tuned here at Collider for more on Unfriendly Black Hotties as work on the project begins. Check out a previous interview we conducted with Palmer and Uzo Aduba regarding Lightyear below.