Kenya Barris and Pharrell Williams in Talks to Create Juneteenth Musical for Netflix

By Greta Bjornson @greatbjornson
Published June 19, 2020, 5:57 p.m. ET

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Kenya Barris and Pharrell Williams are working on bringing Juneteenth to Netflix. The Black-ish creator and the “Happy” singer are in talks to create a Netflix musical based on the holiday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Few details about the upcoming project have been released and the storyline has not been revealed, with talks still reported to be in early stages.

Sources say the film will be separate from a stage musical announced in 2018 that Barris and Williams are working on, also based on Juneteenth. The duo is developing their stage production after the success of the Season 4 opener of Black-ish, an episode called “Juneteenth: The Musical.” Black-ish writer Peter Saji is creating the stage musical with Barris and Williams.

Juneteenth celebrates the end of slavery in America on June 19, 1865. The holiday commemorates the arrival of Union army general Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas, to announce that all slaves in the state were free. While Juneteenth is not currently recognized as a federal holiday, calls to nationally commemorate the day have grown following protests over the killing of George Floyd.

Both Barris and Williams have been working to make Juneteenth a nationally recognized holiday. Williams recently traveled to Virgina, where he announced with Governor Ralph Northam that the state would recognize Juneteenth as a paid state holiday for the first time in the state’s history, Deadline reports. “This year, Juneteenth will look like no other Juneteenth before it,” Williams said.

Barris has featured Juneteenth in many of his series, including a Juneteenth party in his Netflix show #BlackAF and dedicating an episode of ABC’s Black-ish to the holiday. ABC broadcast the Juneteenth Black-ish episode again as part of Blackout Tuesday on June 2.

Barris, a writer, actor and producer, is known for his work on Black-ish, Mixed-ish, Grown-ish and #BlackAF. Williams is an award-winning songwriter and singer, but has also worked in film. He recently produced the Academy Award-winning film Hidden Figures.