John Ridley and Carlton Cuse’s Apple limited series about Hurricane Katrina is adding to its cast.
Adepero Oduye (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) has joined Vera Farmiga in Five Days at Memorial, a drama about how the aftermath of the deadly 2005 hurricane played out at a New Orleans hospital. It’s based on a nonfiction book by Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink.
John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, American Crime) and Carlton Cuse (Lost, Bates Motel) are adapting the book, which tracks the five days after Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Amid rising flood waters, stifling heat and failing power, exhausted caregivers at the hospital were forced to make life-and-death decisions that would haunt them in the years to come.
Oduye will play Karen Wynn, nurse manager of the intensive care unit at Memorial Hospital and the head of its ethics committee.
The project will reunite Ridley and Oduye, who appeared in 12 Years a Slave. The actress earned Spirit Award and NAACP Image Award nominations for her role in Dee Rees’ 2011 movie Pariah; her credits also include Netflix’s When They See Us, Lifetime’s Steel Magnolias and feature films Widows and The Big Short. Oduye is repped by ICM Partners and Washington Square Arts.
Five Days at Memorial is produced by ABC Signature, where Ridley and Cuse are both under overall deals. They executive produce and will each direct episodes. Author Fink is a producer.