AMC Adapting Fantasy Novella ‘Sorcerers,’ About a Hip Hop-Inspired Sorcerer

AMC is making a TV series about a hip hop-inspired sorcerer based on the fantasy novella Sorcerers. Written by Maurice Broaddus and Otis Whitaker, with illustrations by internationally renowned artist Jim Mahfood, Sorcerers is described as a psychedelic urban fantasy novella about a man from Harlem who “comes into his own as a hip hop-inspired sorcerer.”

AMC has picked up the rights to Sorcerers, an urban fantasy novella by Broaddus and Whitaker, which follows Malik Hutchins, a 30-year-old man who is the black sheep of one of the most successful families in Harlem, until he discovers that he is a sorcerer.

Here is the synopsis for Sorcerers:

Malik couch-surfs with relatives, parties with his girlfriend, and ghostwrites rhymes for local rappers for a few bucks to finance his lifestyle—but when cocky Malik sells two warring rappers the same verse, he paints a target on his own back. Then on his beloved grandfather’s deathbed, Pop-Pop reveals that Malik is a sorcerer, in the great tradition of African sorcery born on the plains of the rift valley before the beginning of time. Malik is thrown headlong into a quest that winds through the streets of Harlem, to the rural South, and places much farther beyond, places he’s only visited in dreams… Now it’s Malik’s turn to step up and take his place as wielder and guardian of an ancient magic passed down through generations in order to protect the family, the people of Harlem, and the world from the forces of dark magic connected to the worst aspects of American history and the fearful creatures it has unleashed.

Newly released on August 4, Sorcerers is notably the first release from NeoText, a new digital publishing company dedicated to short-form prose, and features eye-popping illustrations from creator Jim Mahfood (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), whose work on the cover can be seen below. In addition, Mahfood, whose veteran status within the illustrating community helped give a boost to the newly launched NeoText, provided 14 spot full color illustrations for the novella.

“NeoText marks a different way of creating stories, with a lead writer in collaboration with an in-house writers room, translating ideas into action-packed storytelling,” Broaddus said in a statement accompanying the announcement of AMC optioning the rights to Sorcerers. “I’m thrilled to see SORCERERS transform from the novella to a TV show.”

“Artist Ben Marra introduced me online to the folks at NeoText, and when they sent the script for SORCERERS, it really clicked with me,” added Mahfood.

NeoText execs John Schoenfelder, Russell Ackerman, and Jay Schuminsky will serve as executive producers on the Sorcerers series, while Nick Mennuti and Eric Raab will be co-executive producers.

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