Toni Morrison’s ‘Sula’ Is Being Adapted Into A Limited Series at HBO

Toni Morrison’s 1973 novel Sula is receiving an adaptation into a limited series by HBO, reports Deadline. The drama series is created and written by Shannon M. Houston (Station Eleven), who has an overall deal with the network. It is produced by Stephanie Allain’s Homegrown Pictures.

Sula follows the trajectory of Nel Wright and Sula Peace’s lives as they move from their tight knit childhood years in an Ohio neighborhood called The Bottom, into adulthood where they choose vastly different paths for themselves. While Nel Wright stays in The Bottom and adopts a more conventional life as a married woman with children, Sula Peace decides on a path far more liberating, and becomes more intellectually and sexually free than anyone else in her new city. Ultimately, Sula and Nel must confront the effects of their choices and their complex friendship bond. 

Houston has written for Hulu’s The Looming Tower, Amazon’s Homecoming, Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere, HBO Max’s Station Eleven and HBO’s Lovecraft Country. Outside of writing for television, she is also a poet and critic. Houston executive produces with Allain for Homegrown Pictures. Gabrielle Ebron is co-executive producer for the series.

Morrison was born in Lorain, Ohio in 1931. She was an Award winning author, widely known for her 1987 novel Beloved which won the Pulitzer Prize. In 1993, Morrison became the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Sula is her second novel following her debut The Bluest Eye.