Less than a week after Atlanta won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy Series — and its creator and star, Donald Glover, took home the award for best actor in a musical or comedy series — FX has signed Glover to an overall deal. The network also announced today that Atlanta, which was already renewed for a second season, won’t return until 2018 due to Glover’s production schedule.
On top of writing, executive producing, directing, and starring in Atlanta, Glover will develop other series for FX Networks and their streaming platforms. In a press release, Nick Grad, FX’s President of Original Programming, called Atlanta “the breakout comedy of the year and a series revered as much for its originality as its honest look at the experience of being aspiring, young and black in that legendary city. We’re proud to partner with Donald in an overall deal that will allow him to continue turning his creative vision into incredible television.”
The move signals the network’s commitment to Glover and echoes a similar deal between FX and Louis C.K. back in 2013, following the third season of C.K.’s critically acclaimed Louie. (That show, by the way, is technically on hiatus, although it remains to be seen whether or not C.K. will return to it at all.) C.K.’s production company, Pig Newton, is under contract to produce shows for FX; Better Things, for instance, which premiered at the same time as Atlanta, was created by C.K. and the show’s star, Pamela Adlon, and Baskets, which returns on January 19, was co-created by Louis C.K., Zach Galifianakis and Jonathan Krisel.
The deal caps off an excellent run of events for Glover, who in 2016 not only premiered Atlanta but also released his third album under his musical pen name, Childish Gambino, in December. Awaken, My Love! debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and is Glover’s highest-charting album to date. The 33-year-old also became a dad in 2016: His girlfriend gave birth to their first child sometime in the late summer or early fall. So yeah — it’s a good time to be Donald Glover.
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