EXCLUSIVE: Elgin James (Mayans M.C., The Outlaws) is currently shooting his upcoming Prison Break series for Hulu, and has already lined up his next project.
James is developing a TV adaptation of S.A. Cosby’s Southern Gothic crime thriller novel King of Ashes at FX with Amblin, Higher Ground, and 20th Television, where he’s under an overall deal. The deal for the rights was brokered by Lucy Stille at Lucy Stille Literary on behalf of Josh Getzler at HG Literary.
The drama series King of Ashes is centered on Roman Carruthers, who returns home to his family’s crematory business in Virginia after his father is left comatose in a suspicious hit-and-run, only to discover his brother’s criminal debts have put the entire family in danger—and he’ll do whatever it takes to protect them.
James will executive produce alongside Higher Ground, and Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin. Amblin’s Todd Cohen will co-executive produce.
Prison Break was ordered to series last October with James at the helm and has been shooting in Los Angeles for some months now. The drama series stars Emily Browning as Cassidy, Drake Rodger as Tommy, Lukas Gage as Jackson, Clayton Cardenas as Michael “Ghost”, JR Bourne as Junior, Georgie Flores as Andrea, Myles Bullock as Darius “Red” and Kelli Berglund as Cheyenne. The project reunites James with Cardenas and Bourne, who starred in his popular motorcycle drama, Mayans M.C., which ran for 5 successful seasons on FX. He followed that with the Amazon series The Outlaws, which he co-created with Stephen Merchant. James wrote, directed, and scored his debut film, Little Birds, starring Juno Temple and Leslie Mann, and co-wrote the script for Lowriders for Imagine Entertainment and Universal Pictures. He is repped by WME and Johnson, Shapiro, Slewett & Kole.
Cosby is the New York Times best-selling author of King of Ashes, All the Sinners Bleed, Razorblade Tears, Blacktop Wasteland, and My Darkest Prayer, as well as the upcoming Marvel novel Truth to Power: A Luke Cage Marvel Crime Novel and three children’s books co-authored with Questlove. Cosby’s novels have been translated into 28 languages, and all have been optioned for film/streaming. The Netflix Adaptation of All the Sinners Bleed will be released next Spring. Cosby has won multiple Anthony, ITW, Agatha, Macavity, Barry, Lefty, and Hammett Awards. Razorblade Tears, Blacktop Wasteland, and All the Sinners Bleed were all on the New York Times list of the Top 50 Thrillers of the 21st Century.