Michaela Coel is expanding her relationship with HBO. The “I May Destroy You” creator’s latest project is moving forward with HBO and BBC co-producing the upcoming “First Day on Earth.”
The 10-episode drama will star Coel, who will also write the series and serve as its executive producer alongside Jesse Armstrong (“Succession”) as well as Phil Clarke and Roberto Troni for Various Artists Limited, in association with A24. Jo McClellan will also executive produce for the BBC, and Piers Wenger will EP for A24. Filming is scheduled to begin next year.
The series follows a British novelist named Henri (Coel) who feels stuck in her life. When she’s offered a job on a film in Ghana, West Africa, she says yes, hoping to connect to her parents’ homeland, reconnect with her estranged father and rediscover herself. But when she arrives in this new land, neither her job nor her father turn out the way she expected. “Soon Henri has to deal with danger and hypocrisy, form new friendships, lose her illusions and create a new sense of identity — one that might leave her stronger, but could also break her,” a press release for the series reads.
“I am delighted to be working with VAL, HBO and the BBC again, and to partner with A24; thanks to all of their combined taste, care and expertise, I feel our show is in great hands,” Coel said in a press release. “‘First Day on Earth’ is another very personal story for me which I hope will engage viewers from all over the world, and I can’t wait for audiences to go on Henri’s journey with her.”
“Michaela’s words have the ability to transport the reader like no other. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue the conversation that began with ‘I May Destroy You,’ alongside our close collaborators at VAL, A24 and the BBC. With Henri as our guide, ‘First Day on Earth’ is as lyrical as it is visceral in its excavation of the idea of home,” Amy Gravitt, executive vice president of HBO and Max Comedy programming, said in a press release.
“Michaela is one of those exceptional talents whose work I have long admired,” Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, said in a release. “In ‘First Day on Earth,’ Michaela has created another unmissable series — truly original, heartfelt, hilarious, poetic storytelling and told in a way that only Michaela can. I can’t wait for everyone to see it.”
Additionally, Phil Clarke and Robert Troni, executive producers of Various Artists Limited, said they felt “extremely lucky” to be working with Coel, calling their experience on “I May Destroy You” “extraordinary.”
“Yet again, Michaela delivers a highly original, singular story that explores the relationship between England and Ghana via a second generation British-Ghanaian woman who takes up the opportunity to return to the homeland of her parents and finds herself encountering a cast of memorable characters and experiences that force her to face some painful home truths. But as ever with Michaela, it is by turns shocking, funny and unforgettable, and done in her inimitable style,” Clarke and Troni said.
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