While it's clear that the biggest powerhouse in ABC right now is Shonda Rhimes with three very successful shows on the air (long-running primetime soap opera "Grey's Anatomy," political thriller "Scandal" and law drama "How To Get Away With Murder"), that doesn't mean there aren't any other big names on the network - and one of them may have penned a new Jada Pinkett Smith show.
Barry Schindel, one of the writers for the popular Nathan Fillion-led series "Castle," has penned the screenplay of the new Jada Pinkett Smith show, "Murder Time," as the star's set to make her television comeback after leaving "Gotham."
According to Variety, the new Jada Pinkett show will see Will Smith's longtime wife (and Jaden and Willow's mom) as the lead in a legal drama as well as taking on the role of executive producer in a pilot stemming from A+E Studios as their first project sold to another network.
"Our networks are clearly our first priority. But if a pilot does not get picked up to series by, say, Lifetime, we as a studio will do everything we can to support that pilot going to the marketplace," Bob DeBietto, A+E Studios chief, told The Hollywood Reporter last year about selling outside their network grou. "We can simply run with it, or take a more passive position if there's a third party that actually wants to pursue the project."
As TV Guide reports, on Jada Pinkett Smith's show, the star will play Wilmington, the first African American District Attorney in Delaware, and, while dealing with a big case that draws media attention as well as social tension in the city, she confronts having to share the true story of her husband's murder.
If the Jada Pinkett Smith show were to be picked up, it would add another face to the ABC's growingly diverse lineup after Shondaland stars Viola Davis and Kerry Washington as well as "Quantico" actress Priyanka Chopra, putting the network further ahead in the fight for true representation of different ethnicities in mainstream media.
There's still no word on who else would star on Jada Pinkett Smith's show.
