Issa Rae Will Produce HBO’s ‘The Vanishing Half’
The limited series is based on the novel by Brit Bennett.
The Vanishing Half, the bestselling novel from Brit Bennett, is getting the HBO treatment. The network is currently developing a series based on the book about twin sisters who run away from their southern Black community as teens and go on to live separate yet interconnected lives, and Insecure’s Issa Rae has signed on to produce.
Rae will executive produce alongside Aziza Barnes (BLKS) and Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play), who have also signed on as writers, and Stephanie Allain.
According to Deadline, HBO acquired the rights to The Vanishing Half in June 2020 shortly after the novel was published. The network fought tooth-and-nail with 16 other bidders, and their deal included a seven-figure payment and an agreement to have Bennett sign on as an executive producer. The project will be presented as a limited series similar to Netflix’s Behind Her Eyes, based on the novel by Sarah Pinborough, and Hulu’s Normal People, based on the novel by Sally Rooney.
“Reading The Vanishing Half was and is an exacting call to my family’s history—one of passing for white, legends so tall as to be myths, and wounds that last several generations,” Barnes said in a statement to Deadline. “Beyond feeling compelled to adapt this world that I knew viscerally, to then be able to craft its coming to life with a dear friend, chosen family, is a gift beyond measure. Working with Jeremy is a delight and dedication to making art in the medium of television that grips and moves me, moves us both. I’m hype.”
Rae has yet to release a statement about signing onto the project, but fans on Twitter are more than excited to see these powerhouses come together to bring The Vanishing Half to the screen.
Now the hard part—waiting—begins.
