Amazon to Launch 12 Years A Slave Director Steve McQueen’s Small Axe

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Amazon is now set to help launch the BBC drama anthology headed by Steve McQueen, the director behind the searing 2013 historical drama 12 Years A Slave, per Deadline.

Called Small Axe, the six-part series peers in at the lives of a group of friends and their West Indian families as they face racial tension in West London from 1968 to 2014. The BBC originally ordered the series in 2015, so Amazon’s involvement as co-producers is likely to speed the long-gestating production’s progress along.

Small Axe will tell the story of a West Indian community across three decades, kicking off at Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood” speech in 1968. That year is also when a tiny restaurant called The Mangrove opens the heart of the community and becomes an epicenter of resistance.

McQueen’s most recent film was 2018’s acclaimed Widows, which Paste ranked among that year’s best films.

The show will be produced by Rainmark Films, known for its work with The Frankenstein Chronicles. Tracey Scoffield will executive produce, while David Tanner will be producing.

Not many details have been released yet, and we’re still keeping our eye out for casting information. But there’s sure to be more info out soon.