During the 2010 World Cup, you couldn’t escape K’naan. Even if you didn’t know him by name, you knew his song, “Wavin’ Flag,” the official jam for the soccer tournament, and pop-culture staple for a season. But the artist is taking a fascinating turn, gearing up a project at HBO with a powerhouse director coming along for the journey.
THR reports that Kathryn Bigelow will executive-produce the musician’s “The Recruiters” at the network. K’naan will write, executive-produce and direct (if it gets to pilot stage) the show, set in Minnesota, that will delve into the hidden world of Jihadi recruitment. It’s a helluva potent topic, and K’naan has a unique perspective.
His family came to North America, fleeing the civil war in Somalia, and K’naan himself is Muslim. And that will probably serve as solid background with which to inform the project as he starts to put it together. It’s a long process before anything becomes a series, but “The Recruiters” is definitely one to keep an eye on. But if you need a Bigelow fix sooner, she and "Zero Dark Thirty" screenwriter Mark Boal are currently collaborating with Sarah Koenig on the new season of "Serial" that follows the case of American serviceman Bowe Bergdahl.