Shots Fired, which airs in March on Fox, is a drama series that mines the traumas and racial tensions caused by police brutality in America. From Atlanta to Blackish to Orange Is the New Black to The Carmichael Show, TV has reflected this ugly aspect of American reality to varying levels of sensitivity, awareness, and on the flipside, topical exploitation. (For more on show’s former attempts cover the subject, read Flavorwire TV Editor Pilot Viruet’s fantastic piece here.)
Each of those shows, however, have brought up the issue mostly as part of another overarching plot, whereas Shots Fired — created by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights) and Reggie Rock Bythewood (Notorious) — will, over the course of 10 episodes, devote itself to the subject, and as executive producer Bryan Grazer refers to it, to “do an autopsy of a town like Ferguson.”
As Indiewire reports, at the TCA Winter Press tour, Reggie Rock Bythewood described the “creed” of the show, saying, it’s “to get the audience to the edge of their seats and, while they’re leaning forward, hit them with the truth.”
The show flips the narrative of what we’ve seen in the news with repellent frequency, and examines what happens in a town when a black cop shoots a white teen, following an investigator (played by Sanaa Lathan) and a prosecutor (played by Stephan James). The series also stars Richard Dreyfus and Helen Hunt (who plays the governor of North Carolina, where Shots Fired is set.)
It also boasts an impressive list of directors, from Eve’s Bayou writer/director Kasi Lemmons, to Silence of the Lamb’s Jonathan Demme, to The People v. O.J. Simpson’s Anthony Hemingway.
Watch the new trailer:
The series airs on March 22.