Netflix’s 6 Underground actor Remi Adeleke is slated to produce Slave Stealers: The Accounts of Slave Rescues – Then and Now as a TV series with producer Nick Nanton (Operation Toussaint, Rudy Ruettiger: The Walk On), via Deadline. The series will be an adaptation of the book written by Timothy Ballard (The Covenant: One Nation Under God).
The series tentatively entitled Edenton follows the true story of two abolitionists who combated human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of slaves. According to Deadline, the initial season will focus on Harriet Jacobs, an enslaved woman who won her freedom to become an abolitionist. Jacobs is herald as the first female slave to document her personal accounts of sexual harassment and abuse by slaveholders.
Adeleke’s 8th Wonder Entertainment will produce with Nanton, Ballard and Brian Norton’s StoweAway Productions, via Deadline. Ballard’s non-for-profit Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.) is also involved with the series. O.U.R. is an organization that works to fight the exploitation and trafficking of victims around the globe. Adeleke will write the scrip with Cody Newton (American Patriot).
Before his foray into entertainment, Adeleke chronicled his journey from Africa to America in the memoir Transformed, via Deadline. After his service as a Navy SEAL, he became a creative consultant for films like Transformers: The Last Knight and Apple TV+’s Ray James. Adeleke shares a personal connection with this project: He is a descendant of slaves from the town Edenton, the birthplace of Jacobs.
Ballard founded O.U.R. in 2013, with the sole purpose of “bringing an end to child slavery” via the O.U.R. website. Adeleke serves as the Operations Specialist for the organization.