Ava DuVernay Reteams With Oprah Winfrey For Drama Series 'Queen Sugar'

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Ava Duvernay and Oprah Winfrey on the set of "Selma"While Ava DuVernay‘s exclusion from the Best Director category at the Oscars may still rankle, it’s certainly not affecting the filmmaker from getting work. Just last week, word emerged that she was re-teaming with "Selma" star David Oyelowo for a murder-mystery set against the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina, and she’s also headed to the small screen for another project featuring her most influential collaborator from her Oscar nominated film.

Oprah Winfrey will co-create and co-star in the new series "Queen Sugar," which will air on the former talk show queen’s network OWN. Set to shoot this fall, the drama is based on the book by Natalie Baszile and is set on a sugarcane farm in Louisiana. Here’s the book synopsis: 

Why exactly Charley Bordelon’s late father left her eight hundred sprawling acres of sugarcane land in rural Louisiana is as mysterious as it was generous. Recognizing this as a chance to start over, Charley and her eleven-year-old daughter, Micah, say good-bye to Los Angeles.
They arrive just in time for growing season but no amount of planning can prepare Charley for a Louisiana that’s mired in the past: as her judgmental but big-hearted grandmother tells her, cane farming is always going to be a white man’s business. As the sweltering summer unfolds, Charley must balance the overwhelming challenges of her farm with the demands of a homesick daughter, a bitter and troubled brother, and the startling desires of her own heart.

Well, we’re excited and so is DuVernay. She hit Twitter to share the good news —check it out below. [Deadline]