Rutina Wesley has landed the lead role on new OWN series “Queen Sugar,” TheWrap has learned.
The series hails from “Selma” director Ava DuVernay and will also feature Oprah Winfrey in a recurring role.
DuVernay will write, direct and executive produce the project, her first TV drama series. Winfrey will also executive produce. When the production begins later in 2015, it will mark Winfrey’s first acting role on her own network.
In the series, Wesley will star as Nova Bordelon, a formidable journalist and activist based in New Orleans. Her life, and that of her brother and their extended family, undergoes significant change when her sister, Charley, returns to Louisiana from Los Angeles to help run the family sugarcane farm.
Wesley is perhaps best known for co-starring as Tara Thornton on “True Blood,” which ran for seven seasons on HBO. She had a prominent recurring role on NBC’s “Hannibal” and recently guest starred in multiple episodes of The CW’s “Arrow.”