Will Smith is going to continue his collaboration with Netflix. After 2017’s Bright, Smith has been working on projects like Disney’s Aladdin and Ang Lee’s upcoming Gemini Man. And of course, he and Martin Lawrence are teaming back up next year in Bad Boys for Life. But, it seems like he’s heading back to streaming after that.
According to Deadline, Smith is set to star as Harlem crime boss Nicky Barnes in The Council, Netflix’s upcoming original film from Peter Landesman. Landesman and Smith previously worked together on 2015’s Concussion.
In the late 70s and early 80s, Barnes served as the ‘King’ of a Council of crime bosses who ran Harlem. Envisioning a fully self-sufficient African American city-state, The Council wasn’t your run-of-the-mill crime syndicate. Landesman wrote the script, which revolves around a very Shakespearean story of deceit and intrigue as a young protege of Barnes comes to prominence. While the crime genre has been done to death and back, it seems like we’ll be getting something wholly unique with this one.
No other cast information has been announced yet. Landesman and Smith will both serve as executive producers alongside James Lassiter, Matt Jackson, and Jason Essex. No director for the pic has been announced yet, though.
The Council also has yet to receive a release date.
