Following acclaimed leading performances in If Beale Street Could Talk and the Amazon series Homecoming, Stephan James is acting alongside another fellow leading man.

Deadline is reporting that James is set to star alongside Academy Award-nominated actor Laurence Fishburne in Antoine Fuqua’s short form drama series #Freerayshawn.

James will play the titular role of Rayshawn, a Black Iraq war veteran who is forced to flee for his life after being set up by the New Orleans Police Department over a drug deal. Rayshawn eventually takes refuge with his girlfriend and child inside his apartment building, where a SWAT team and New Orleans PD are prepared to storm.

However, he garners the sympathetic ear of Steven Poincy (Fishburne), a cop who tries the quell the growing chaos and media circus by taking on the role of negotiator and convincing Rayshawn to surrounder peacefully.
Aside from James and Fishburne, #Freerayshawn also stars Jasmine Cephas Jones, Annabeth Gish and Skeet Ulrich. The short form drama will be executive produced Fuqua, David Boorstein and Kat Samick.

The drama hails from Sony Pictures TV and will be shown on Quibi, a mobile streaming service which will convert long-form content into smaller chapters. No release date for #Freerayshawn has been announced as of yet.

READ MORE:

‘If Beale Street Could Talk’ Is A Profound Love Letter To James Baldwin, Harlem And The Enduring Power Of Black Community

‘Marvel’s Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur’ Animated Series In The Works At Disney From Laurence Fishburne

Photo by Tommaso Boddi/FilmMagic,