by Thinus Ferreira
America's Showtime TV channel is producing a brand-new Shaka Zulu drama series that will rival MultiChoice and M-Net's long-gestating Shaka Ilembe drama series planned for DStv's Mzansi Magic channel, with Showtime saying its version of the Zulu leader is "going to rock the world".
Showtime in a press release announced that its new drama series, Shaka: King of the Zulu Nation - produced by CBS Studios, Propagate and Fuqua Films and executive produced and directed by Antoine Fuqua - will be "rooted in actual events".
The series will tell "the story of the Zulu empire chief Shake and his unlikely rise to power, uniting multiple tribes across vast stretches of Africa in the early 19th century to transform his power into legend, on par with history's most seminal figures".
Shaka: King of the Zulu Nation as an hourlong drama series is written by Olu Odebunmi and Tolu Awosika.
Showtime says that Shaka: King of the Zulu Nation will be "an epic drama centred around one man's personal journey from stigmatised childhood to warrior king".
"Olu and Tolu have written such an exciting and emotional origin story of an African warrior hero and Antoine's passion for this project, coupled with his formidable talent, promises an epic series unlike any other on television," says Gary Levine, co-president of entertainment at Showtime Networks Inc.
Antoine Fuqua says "This project offers a gateway to our past that is so critical to our global history and yet so often marginalised. Through Shaka: King of the Zulu Nation, we hope to bring this saga to life - all the tears, sweat and blood, all the joy and sorrow, all the intimacy and intensity and humanity. In short, we're going to rock the world with this one".
After almost 3 years M-Net and Bomb Productions are still in pre-production for its own 12-episode Shaka Ilembe drama series for Mzansi Magic (Dstv 161) that it announced in May 2018 to tell the story of King Shaka kaSenzangakhona.
M-Net said that this black historical drama series will explore the precolonial South African kingdoms that influenced and gave rise to Shaka Zulu and that it would depict the kingdoms of the AmaThethwa, the AmaNdwandwe, AmaQwabe, AmaHlubi and AmaZulu, amongst others, and how they all gave rise to the creation of the heroic leader.
South Africans and viewers worldwide are familiar with the 10-episode, 1986-series Shaka Zulu from the SABC and Harmony Gold USA that was directed by William C. Faure, starring the iconic, late Henry Cele in the adult Shaka role and based on Joshua Sinclair's 1985-novel of the same name.
