Zetna Fuentes is ready to have her cake and eat it, too.
The Afro-Latina Daytime Emmy-nominated director will helm the pilot episode of Hulu’s drama series Black Cake.
Fuentes replaces Andrew Dosunmu on the project, which hails from Women of the Movement creator Marissa Jo Cerar, Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment.
Ashley Thomas has been cast as the male lead opposite Mia Isaac and Adrienne Warren.
Written by Cerar based on the book by Charmaine Wilkerson, Black Cake is a family drama wrapped in a murder mystery with a diverse cast of characters and a global setting that spans decades. The story takes place in Jamaica, Rome, Scotland, England and Southern California.
In the late 1960s, a runaway bride named Covey (Isaac) disappears into the surf off the coast of Jamaica and is feared drowned or a fugitive on the run for her husband’s murder. Fifty years later in California, a widow named Eleanor Bennett loses her battle with cancer, leaving to her two estranged children, Byron (Thomas) and Benny (Warren), a flash drive that holds previously untold stories of her journey from the Caribbean to America. These stories, narrated by Eleanor, shock her children and challenge everything they thought they knew about their family’s origin.
Thomas’ Byron Bennett is a brilliant ocean scientist, whose formidable work ethic has made him a leader in his field and a popular social media influencer. His professional success comes second only to his relationship with his mother. In the wake of her death, Byron is tasked with carrying out her final wish – a task that forces a reunion with his estranged sister, Benny and brings to light harrowing secrets.
At Hulu, Fuentes recently directed episodes of The Old Man and The Girl from Plainville.
