Michael K. Williams Joins HBO’s Lovecraft Country Adaptation

A very familiar face is coming back to HBO.

Michael K. Williams has joined the cast of the network’s straight-to-series Lovecraft Country adaptation, based on the 2016 novel by Matt Ruff, per Deadline.

The high-profile drama, which received a straight-to-series order last summer at HBO, is being produced by Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, along with Misha Green and Warner Bros. Television.

Lovecraft Country follows Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors), his friend Letitia (HBO’s True Blood alum Jurnee Smollett-Bell) and his Uncle George, who embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father, Montrose Freeman, whom Williams will play.

Lovecraft Country also stars Courtney B. Vance, Wunmi Mosaku, Aunjanue Ellis, Jamie Harris and Elizabeth Debicki.

Peele and Underground creator Green executive produce, along with Bad Robot’s Abrams and Ben Stephenson, David Knoller and Yann Demange, who will direct the pilot.

Williams’ numerous credits on HBO include a five-season starring run as iconic Baltimore stick-up man Omar Little on The Wire and a co-starring run as Chalky White on Boardwalk Empire, along with Emmy-nominated turns in the HBO television movie Bessie and limited series The Night Of.

Williams’ face is unmistakable for anyone who’s seen any of his complex, morally ambiguous performances, and his casting in the forthcoming series should bode well for its exploration of the fraught racial politics of the Jim Crow era. It’s especially interesting when you consider executive producer Peele’s intent to create “social thrillers” following his breakthrough success with Get Out.

No word yet on when Lovecraft Country is set to premiere on HBO.