Tyler Perry is in the ViacomCBS business with a huge deal and series at both BET and BET+, and it looks like he is getting a series together at Showtime, another ViacomCBS network. The premium cabler is developing Mabel, an origin story on Perry’s Madea character.
According to the exclusive Deadline report, multiple scripts have been ordered. The series is created by Perry and Tim Palen and written by Empire writers and sister duo JaNeika James and JaSheika James. The James sisters are also writers for Netflix’s Kevin Hart-Wesley Snipes vehicle, True Story, and HBO Max’s new Gossip Girl series.
The official description: Every great story has to start somewhere and every legend has a beginning. Long before she was the force of nature known as Madea she was a smart, fierce, irresistible, dangerous, crazy 20-something black woman named…Mabel Simmons. When she moved to Atlanta in 1972 she set the city – and the world – on fire!
Perry’s current series on the air include Tyler Perry’s The Oval, Tyler Perry’s Ruthless, Tyler Perry’s Sistas, Tyler Perry’s Young Dylan and Tyler Perry’s Bruh.
