“Lovecraft Country” and “Underground” creator Misha Green and Jurnee Smollett are teaming up for a third project, taking Smollett’s “Birds of Prey” character Black Canary on a new adventure in her own standalone film. The project is in development for HBO Max.
Smollett confirmed the news on Twitter, writing: “Guess the Canary is out of the cage! So excited to finally embark on this adventure with my creative soul sis.”
Last year, Green and Smollett teased their interest in teaming up for a Black Canary project, telling Variety that they used to compete in the DCEU fighting video game “Injustice 2,” with Green choosing to play as Black Canary (the alter ego of songstress Dinah Lance).
In the interview, Green said that Smollett landing the role in 2020 movie “Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn” (directed by Cathy Yan) felt like fate.
“I just would just do the ‘canary scream’ to win all the time, which would frustrate [Jurnee],” Green recalled. “So, it was like, ’It’s kind of kismet and funny that you’re now Black Canary because I was using that character to beat you with this game.’”
Green added that if the opportunity to work on a Black Canary project presented itself, she’d be excited to sign on.
Green and Smollett, who first collaborated on the 2016 historical drama series “Underground,” most recently partnered for HBO’s “Lovecraft Country.” The horror drama earned 18 Emmy nominations for its single season run, including Smollett’s first Emmy nod (for a lead actress in a drama), as well as a best drama series nomination. The “Lovecraft Country” ensemble included Jonathan Majors, Courtney B. Vance, Michael Kenneth Williams, Aunjanue Ellis, Wunmi Mosaku, Abbey Lee, Jamie Chung and Jada Harris.
Smollett is repped by Management 360, CAA and Nina Shaw.
Cinelinx and Collider were first to report news of the project’s development.