“Black-ish” star Laurence Fishburne will play Alex Haley in A&E’s remake of the 1977 landmark miniseries “Roots.”
“Roots: The Saga of an American Family” will tell the story of Haley’s ancestor Kunta Kinte and will incorporate material from the “Roots” nov🦂el as well as “carefully researched new scholarship of the time.”
James Earl Jones 📖played Haley in the original ABC miniseꦜries, while LeVar Burton portrayed Kunta Kinte.
Haley was accused of plagiarism after the ABC miniseries aired and eventually settled out of court with෴ author Harold Courlander (“”).
Haley died in 1992 at the age of 70.
“Roots: The Saga of an American Family”♏ will be simulcast on A&E, History and Lifetime. It ♔does not yet have an airdate.
Fishburne, currently co-starring as Earl “Pops” Johns꧑on on the ABC sitcom “Black-ish” — headlined by Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross — is no stranger to television.
He starred on “CSI” for two-and-a-half seasons as Raymond Langston (replacing🉐 original star William Petersen) and as Thurgood Marshall in the (a filmed presentation of the stage play).
Fishburne also snared an Emmy nomination in the 1997 HBO movie “Miss ไEvers’ Boys” in which he co-starred opposite Alfre Woodard.