Billy Porter will direct an episode of Fox’s upcoming anthology drama series “Accused.” The episode will tell the story of a drag queen’s “whirlwind affair that leads to devastating consequences,” per Sony Pictures Television.
Based on the BBC series of the same name, “Accused” begins in a courtroom, with viewers having no knowledge of what the defendant is accused of or why they are there. Each episode will feature a different cast, exploring each defendant’s point of view through flashbacks as viewers learn how they ended up on trial.
Porter is an award-winning actor, singer, director and writer. He won an Emmy for his leading role as Pray Tell on the FX series “Pose,” and won a Tony for his starring role as the drag queen Lola in the 2013 Broadway musical “Kinky Boots.” He was most recently seen in Amazon’s “Cinderella” alongside Camila Cabello and Idina Menzel. He’s soon to make his directorial debut with a slate of projects that includes the coming-of-age film “Anything’s Possible,” as well as teen comedy “To Be Real” and the HBO Max feature adaptation of “Camp.”
Porter is represented by CAA, Industry Entertainment and Slate PR.
Fox previously announced that “CODA’s” Marlee Matlin will make her directorial debut on an episode of the series, in addition to the casting announcements of Michael Chiklis and Whitney Cummings as the stars of their own episodes.
“Accused” is developed by Howard Gordon (“Homeland”) and executive produced by Gordon, Alex Gansa (“24″) and David Shore (“House”). The series is co-produced by Sony Pictures Television and Fox Entertainment, in addition to EPs Glenn Geller, Erin Gunn and All3Media America’s Jacob Cohen-Holmes, as well as Jimmy McGovern, Sita Williams, Roxy Spencer and Louise Pedersen for All3Media International. Frank Siracusa and John Weber also serve as executive producers. The original series debuted in 2010 on BBC One and was created by McGovern.