About two years ago, Donald Glover left Community to do his own thing by way of a deal with FX to develop his own comedy series “set against the backdrop of the Atlanta music scene,” where Glover grew up. Over a year later, FX finally ordered the pilot, making Atlanta official. Now the comedy pilot finally has its cast, as announced by a FX press release on Thursday.
The pilot will be directed by Hiro Murai, best known for his work on music videos for Spoon, Earl Sweatshirt, and, naturally, Childish Gambino. Glover will star as Earnest “Earn” Marks, an aspiring rapper who returns to Atlanta to find his cousin Alfred Miles killing the hip-hop game while he just works a shitty day job (not stripping, sadly.) Poor Earn. Miles will be played by Brian Tyree Henry, who was also recent cast on HBO’s Vice Principals.
They’re joined by Dope’s Lakeith Lee Stanfield, who will play Darius, the talented right-hand man and musical collaborator to Miles, and Zazie Beetz as Van, who isn’t really described in the press release except in terms of her “complicated relationship” with Earn, with whom she has a daughter.