Ava DuVernay’s upcoming OWN series, “Queen Sugar,” has cast Emmy-winning actor Glynn Turman in a guest star role, Variety has learned exclusively.
Turman will play Ernest Bordelon, the patriarch and proud father of Nova (Rutina Wesley), Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner) and Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe). An intelligent and loving man, Ernest is sugar cane farmer who has kept from his family the fact that the farm is failing, and he hasn’t brought in a successful crop in two years.
Turman won an Emmy in 2008 for his guest appearance on “In Treatment,” and has also enjoyed memorable roles on series including “The Wire,” “House of Lies” and “A Different World.” He will next appear in Jesse Owens biopic “Race.”
“Queen Sugar” chronicles the lives and loves of the estranged Bordelon siblings in Saint Josephine, Louisiana: Charley, the savvy wife and manager of an NBA star; Nova, a world-wise journalist and activist; and Ralph Angel, a formerly incarcerated young father in search of redemption. After a family tragedy, the Bordelons must navigate the triumphs and struggles of their complicated lives in order to run an ailing sugarcane farm in the Deep South.
Executive produced by Oprah Winfrey and DuVernay, “Queen Sugar” is based on Natalie Baszile’s acclaimed novel of the same name. DuVernay developed “Queen Sugar” for television, wrote its pilot episode and will direct multiple episodes of the show’s first season. The series is produced by Warner Horizon Television.
