Black Panther star Michael B. Jordan is set to hop in the producer's chair for a World War II drama, The Liberators, The Hollywood Reporter writes. The film focuses on an African American armored unit, 761st Tank Battalion, an independent army unit which fought in the second world war under General George S. Patton. Their dedicated service came during a time when there was still segregation among the U.S. Armed Forces. (Yes, even that was segregated.)
There's no word yet on whether or not Jordan will also star in the film, and it's not the first time the actor has taken a seat behind the camera. He also acts as an executive producer for the upcoming dystopian television movie, Fahrenheit 451, and the science fiction series Raising Dion coming to Netflix next year; he is starring in both of those.
There's also no word on whether Jordan will adopt an inclusion rider on the project, but considering the film's subject matter and his pledge to adopt inclusion riders in all the projects from his production company, Outlier Society, it's likely to have a pretty diverse on-screen cast at the very least.
Jordan is no stranger to heart-wrenching narratives like Liberators, having appeared in Fruitvale Station in 2009, the Ryan Coogler–directed film chronicling the tragic police shooting of Oscar Grant. This also isn't the first time a film has taken Michael B. Jordan to WWII, having played one of the few black U.S. Air Force pilots known as The Tuskegee Airmen in the 2012 film Red Tails. With a story centered on inclusion and human rights set to a backdrop of a historical war, Liberators just might be the perfect combination for some major buzz and critical acclaim.
