The original Spike Lee joint is getting a small-screen makeover. She’s Gotta Have It, Lee’s 1986 debut film that is being rebooted as a 10-episode series for Netflix, will drop Thanksgiving Day.
The first trailer for the series, released Thursday, shows protagonist Nola Darling (DeWanda Wise) navigating the obstacles that come with a rocky artistic career, outspoken friends, and three very different boyfriends. A self-identified “sex-positive, polyamorous pansexual,” Nola dates a wide variety of men simultaneously: Greer Childs (Cleo Anthony), a “spontaneous” male model; Jamie Overstreet (Lyriq Bent), an older businessman; and Mars Blackmon (Anthony Ramos), an immature jokester who Lee played in the original film.
Lee directed and produced the series with his wife Tonya Lewis Lee, who had the original vision to turn the movie into a television series. Despite many similarities to the original, Lee said that the film’s infamous rape scene is his “biggest regret,” and that the series won’t include it. “It made light of rape, and that’s the one thing I would take back,” he said. “I was immature and I hate that I did not view rape as the vile act that it is.”
For Lee’s first full TV series, he is joined by producers Barry Michael Cooper and Lynn Nottage, along with his wife, Tonya.
