Issa Rae, the creator, producer, and star of HBO’s Insecure, will star alongside Amandla Stenberg in The Hate U Give, a new coming-of-age movie based on a book by Angela Thomas of the same name, according to a new Variety report.
Rae is the latest to join the already stellar cast, which includes Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Algee Smith, Lamar Johnson, and Common. The screenplay will follow a young girl named Starr (played by Stenberg) who grows up poor but is able to attend a suburban prep school. Starr’s life is forever changed when she watches a police officer shoot her unnamed best friend, and she knows she must do something about it, but is not sure how to start.
Rae is set to play April, an activist who works with Starr to help her come to terms with what happened and make a plan for action.
Rae is also still working with Larry Wilmore on Insecure, the hit HBO show that follows a fictionalized version of Rae living her messy yet wildly entertaining late-20s life in Los Angeles with her best friend Molly (Yvonne Orji) as she tries to get over her ex-boyfriend Lawrence (Jay Ellis). Insecure is currently in its second season but has already been renewed for a third.
Rae was Complex’s July cover star. In an interview, she spoke about the challenges of being new to television, what aspects of the show she enjoys writing the most, and whether you can expect her next career move to involve taking her signature “emotional raps” to the big stage. You can read that interview here.
