Apple TV to Adapt Colson Whitehead's Harlem Trilogy into Series

Apple TV is moving forward with a television adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s bestselling Harlem Trilogy. The streaming service has acquired the rights to the three novels—Harlem Shuffle, Crook Manifesto and Cool Machine—and plans to develop an ongoing drama series that follows the fictional furniture dealer Ray Carney as he becomes entangled in Harlem’s criminal underworld from the 1950s through the 1980s.

The project is in early development with a writing team that includes Graham Yost and Aric Avelino, while Oscar‑winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins will serve as an executive producer alongside Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak, Melissa Bernstein and Whitehead himself. The adaptation follows Whitehead’s earlier works that have been turned into screen projects, such as The Underground Railroad for Amazon Prime Video and The Nickel Boys, which was made into a feature film.