Y’lan Noel To Headline ‘The Spook Who Sat By The Door’ FX Pilot Exec Produced By Lee Daniels
Deadline is reporting that Insecure alum Y’lan Noel has been tapped as the lead in The Spook Who Sat by the Door, FX’s drama pilot based on Sam Greenlee’s spy novel, which is executive produced by Lee Daniels.
Written by Leigh Dana Jackson and to be directed by Gerard McMurray, The Spook Who Sat by the Door tells at the fictional story of Dan Freeman (Noel), who has just been hired as the only Black operative in the CIA. He is a patriot, a Vietnam vet, and secretly, a Black Revolutionary.
The project reunites Noel and McMurray after Noel headlined the 2018 Universal feature The First Purge, the prequel to the Purge franchise, which McMurray directed.
Greenlee’s book was published in 1969 and turned into a feature film in 1973, in which Lawrence Cook starred as Dan Freeman.
The Spook Who Sat by the Door is produced by 20th Television. It was optioned through Daniels’ Inclusion Fund. Daniels, Marc Velez, Jackson and McMurray exec produce. Jackson serves as showrunner.
Noel is known for his role as Daniel on the first three seasons of Issa Rae’s award-winning HBO comedy series Insecure. In features, he was seen in Stella Meghie’s romantic drama The Photograph for Universal Pictures and Stella Meghie’s indie comedy The Weekend. His next film is A Lot of Nothing, directed by Mo McRae.