Michaela Coel’s next series for HBO and the BBC, First Day on Earth, is adding to its cast as filming gets underway.
Thandiwe Newton, Ncuti Gatwa, Maxine Peake and Danny Sapani have joined Coel in the show, in which Coel plays a novelist at a personal crossroads. The series is Coel’s first as creator, writer and star since the critically hailed and Emmy- and BAFTA-winning I May Destroy You.
Aside from character names, details about the roles for the four actors are being kept quiet for now. Newton (Westworld, Line of Duty) will play a character named Anya; Gatwa (Doctor Who, Barbie) will play Darren; Peake (Say Nothing) will play Helen; and Sapani (Halo) will play Ernest.
HBO and the BBC placed a series order for First Day on Earth in August 2024. The show comes from Various Artists Limited (which also produced I May Destroy You) and is co-produced by HBO and the BBC in association with A24.
Here’s the logline for the show (which has changed a bit since the series pickup announcement): “British-Ghanaian novelist Henri (Coel) is on the run — from herself, her life, her partner, and that weird guy at her book talk. When she ends up in Ghana, her ancestral homeland, she finds herself submerged in an altogether different world. Amidst new friends, fresh joy, and many different and nuanced relationships, Henri also finds secrets, lies, difficulty, and denial, leading her to question everything about herself, her heritage, and her family.”
Coel is executive producing First Day on Earth with Sam Miller; Various Artists Limited’s Jesse Armstrong, Phil Clarke and Roberto Troni; the BBC’s Jo McClellan; and A24. Johann Knobel produces. Coel and Miller will direct.
