Sammy Davis Jr. Series With Elijah Kelley Not Moving Forward at Hulu

Dan Clarendon December 2, 2023, 10:53 am

20th Television is singing “Who Can I Turn To” now that Hulu is no longer moving forward with its planned limited series about Sammy Davis Jr.

Deadline reported Hulu’s decision on Friday, adding that 20th Television is launching an “aggressive effort” to find the series a new home, with plans to “attach additional high-level talent” to lure prospective buyers.

The news comes a year and a half after Hulu ordered the series, which comes from co-creators and former Empire colleagues Lee Daniels and Thomas Westfall. The series is based on the Wil Haygood biography In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr.and stars Elijah Kelley (pictured at left below) as the famed singer.

Elijah Kelley (L) and Sammy Davis Jr. (R)

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic/Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

“Sammy Davis Jr. rose from childhood stardom on the vaudeville stage to become one of the most famous African American entertainers of the 1950s and ‘60s (and the only Black member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack),” Hulu said in a logline for the project. “At the same time, he spent most of his career surrounded by controversy and ridicule — over his affairs with white film stars, his 1960 marriage to Swedish actress May Britt, his conversion to Judaism, his closeness to the Kennedys (and later Richard Nixon), and his problems with alcohol and drugs.”

Roush Review: 'Sammy Davis Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me' Is a Fascinating Ride Through Cultural History

Daniels was slated to direct the first two episodes and to executive-produce the series alongside Westfall, Marc Toberoff, Pam Williams, and showrunner Kimberly Harrison, with Haygood and Kelley on board as producers.

As Deadline notes, Hulu’s backtracking on the Sammy Davis Jr. project comes amid cost-cutting measures at Disney (which also owns the streaming service Disney+) and other media corporations. Disney+ ditched an already-filmed live-action adaptation of The Spiderwick Chronicles in August as part of a content write-off, but The Roku Channel saved that series last month and scheduled it for an early 2024 bow.