‘The Story of 9/11’ Limited Series in Development at ABC

ABC is preparing to honor the 20th anniversary of the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

The Disney-owned broadcast network has put in development Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11, a limited series based on the best-selling book by Mitchell Zuckoff. The plan is to air the project in 2021, timed to the 20th anniversary of the coordinated terrorist attacks that left nearly 3,000 dead.

Fall and Rise tells the stories of those who were lost, saved and forever altered by the attacks. The book is described as a profound portrait of humanity and resilience in the face of unspeakable horror, with ABC’s project designed to honor the history of events of the tragic day.

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Jan Ramirez, the chief curator of the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, praised Fall and Rise, calling it a “beautifully constructed” book that is “infused with empathy” that “dignifies not only the individuals profiled…but all who were violated by the terrorist attacks of 9/11.”

The ABC limited series hails from Lionsgate and 3 Arts, with Zuckoff also on board as an exec producer.

“I can’t imagine a more perfect home for this project,” Zuckoff said. “On 9/11, millions of people learned about the attacks by turning to ABC. I have complete faith that the network will enable us to bring new and enhanced life to the stories I was privileged to tell in Fall and Rise.”

“When I first read Mitchell’s manuscript, I knew that it would be an honor to bring this remarkable work to television. This is the story of how America came together on that day, first in horror, then in grief, and finally in determination and hope,” said exec producer Erwin Stoff. “We at 3 Arts couldn’t be more delighted to be working with our Lionsgate partners and the amazing team at ABC in bringing Fall and Rise to the screen.”

ABC is also developing an eight-episode anthology series about the civil rights movement called Women of the Movement, with Jay-Z and Will Smith among its executive producers. The series, planned as an annual event, will be a chronology of the civil rights movement from black women’s point of view; the subject of the eight-episode first season is Mamie Till, who dedicated her life to seeking justice in her son Emmett’s name after he was murdered in the Jim Crow South. Rosa Parks would be the subject of a second season.

Marissa Jo Cerar (The Handmaid’s Tale, the Fosters) is writing; executive producers are Jay-Z, Jay Brown and Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith of Roc Nation; Smith and James Lassiter of Overbrook Entertainment; Aaron Kaplan and Dana Honor of Kapital Entertainment; Serendipity Film Group’s Rosanna Grace; Alex Foster and John Middleton of The Middleton Media Group; and David Clark of Aptitude Entertainment. Kapital Entertainment is producing.