‘American Gangster’ Prequel Series Being Developed, Will Star Forest Whitaker
By Ben Pearson/Oct. 24, 2017 3:30 pm EST
American Gangster told the story of Frank Lucas (Washington), a Harlem criminal who, in 1968, smuggled heroin into New York via Vietnam servicemen returning home from the war. He quickly becomes successful enough to build an empire, expanding his reach to other areas of business and attracting the attention of a task force led by Detective Richie Roberts (Russell) in the process. To me, the most memorable thing about the film was its trailer, which I consider to be better than the movie itself:
ScreenDaily spoke with Narcos co-creator Chris Brancato, who revealed that his planned prequel is set five years before the events of the movie and will be called The Godfather of Harlem. It tells the story of Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson, who was played by an uncredited Clarence Williams III in American Gangster:
In an early scene in the 2007 movie, Washington’s character talks about how Johnson was his mentor:
ScreenDaily’s interview also mentions that Brancato is having conversations with rapper Kendrick Lamar about potentially providing the music for this show. As The Playlist notes, this wouldn’t be the first time a well-known rapper became involved with this franchise: Jay-Z released an album called American Gangster in 2007 that was inspired by Scott’s movie.
