
Forest Whitaker is reportedly set to board MGM+’s forthcoming thriller, Emperor of Ocean Park. Led by writer and executive producer Sherman Payne, the veteran actor will star alongside Grantham Coleman and Tiffany Mack.
“An Ivy League law [professor’s] quiet life is shattered when his father, Judge Oliver Garland, dies of an apparent heart attack. The nature of the judge’s death is questioned by Tal’s sister, Mariah, a former journalist and inveterate conspiracy theorist, who believes that the judge, a failed Black nominee to the Supreme Court, met with foul play,” the project’s synopsis reads.
Coleman, best known for his work in Lawmen: Bass Reeves, will play the role of the aforementioned Ivy League law professor while Mack steps into the shoes of Mariah. Meanwhile, Whitaker will play the aforementioned role of Judge Oliver Garland.
“[The] patriarch of his family and a formidable figure in national politics and the judicial system. He is stern, intelligent, calculating, and proud,” a description of Garland reads.
“As a Black man in America, navigating unwelcoming and often hostile environments, he has formed a hard exterior — that he’s come to rely on as a shield. He is a devoted father whose commitment to his family simultaneously bolsters and undercuts his deeply and rigidly held conservative principles.”
Whittaker is no stranger to MGM+. He currently plays the role of Bumpy Johnson in the streaming platform’s hit series, Godfather of Harlem. The period drama is set to return for a third season.