'Blindspotting' TV Series Spin-Off Starring Jasmine Cephas Jones Coming To Starz

It was a major oversight when Carlos López Estrada's electrifying 2018 debut feature Blindspotting went virtually ignored by last year's Academy Awards. But perhaps Estrada's charged film on race and gentrification, which starred and was written by Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, will earn the audience it deserves on the small screen.

A Blindspotting TV spin-off series is being developed by Starz, with Jasmine Cephas Jones set to reprise her role as Ashley from the film. It's unclear whether Diggs and Casal will return, but they are confirmed to be writing the series.

Variety reports that Starz is developing a Blindspotting TV spin-off starring Jasmine Cephas Jones as Ashley, a young mother whose partner of 12 years, Miles is suddenly incarcerated. In the half-hour dramedy, the now-single mother is forced to move in with Miles' mother and half-sister.

Here is the synopsis per Variety:

It centers on Ashley (Jones), who was nipping at the heels of a middle class life in Oakland until Miles, her partner of 12 years and father of their son, is suddenly incarcerated, leaving her to navigate a chaotic and humorous existential crisis when she's forced to move in with Miles' mother and half-sister. Her world is turned upside down while the neighborhood goes inside out, and she must renegotiate her relationship with a town that is caught between two conflicting identities.

In the film, Ashley kicks Miles out of the house after the gun that he rashly bought was found by their child. It's not confirmed whether this TV spin-off will take place before or after Blindspotting, but I would guess that it follows the events of the film, in which Miles' increasingly reckless behavior comes home to roost.

Casal and Diggs are attached to write and executive produce the series, though they have not been confirmed to star. It's likely that Casal will at least appear in a recurring role, or at the very beginning when we see his incarceration. But Diggs, who gave a tour-de-force performance in Blindspotting, is a busy guy, preparing for a starring role in the upcoming TNT series Snowpiercer. The end of Blindspotting also signaled a change for Diggs' ex-con, as he grappled with his toxic relationship with his friend Miles and his ties with Oakland.

Though Blindspotting seems an odd film to turn into a TV spin-off, I'm glad for Jones to get the spotlight. The Hamilton star appeared only for a few scenes in the film, but proved a major screen presence. And because the film was so focused on the relationship of its two central male characters, it would be fascinating to get more insight into the women that orbit around them.