Emmy winner Lena Waithe’s inaugural TV drama, The Chi, is inspired part by her South Side upbringing. Now the Master Of None writer is going to explore life in a queer black woman’s Twenties, which will also hit close to home for her.
Deadline reports TBS has green-lit a pilot for the single-camera comedy, which Waithe actually wrote nine years ago when she was a twentysomething. The half-hour show will follow Hattie, a queer black girl, and her straight best friends, Marie and Nia. Twenties is billed as “a show about friendship, finding love, and messing everything up along the way,” and will see the three women “talk shit and chase their dreams.” Waithe tells Deadline she’s always wanted “to tell a story where a queer black woman was the protagonist, and I’m so grateful to TBS for giving me a platform to tell this story. Queer black characters have been the sidekick for long enough; it’s time for us to finally take the lead.”