Rosario Dawson is going to be taking the lead on Ava DuVernay’s newest project with HBO Max. The series, titled DMZ, is based on the DC comic of the same name by Brian Wood, and will be written and showrun by Roberto Patino.
The comic DMZ follows the story of a near-future dystopia where America is caught in a massive Second Civil War. The federal government of the U.S. is fighting with a group called the “Free States,” a collection of secessionists headquartered in Montana. The area of Manhattan has become a designated demilitarized zone, giving the series its title. The city is a desolate wasteland that our main hero of the series, Alma Ortego (Dawson), has to travel through to search for her lost son. This focus of the DMZ television series seems to be a different take than the comics, which featured a male protagonist. Alma is a medic who saves the lives of the people in the DMZ, while facing off with dangerous enemies at every turn. As the official logline of the show states, “As [Alma] contends with the gangs, militias, demagogues and warlords that control this lawless no man’s land, she becomes the unlikely source of what everyone here has lost…hope.”
DMZ will not be Dawson’s first experience adapting comics for the screen. The actress has starred in numerous Marvel television shows on Netflix, including Daredevil, Iron Fist, The Defenders and Luke Cage. She also starred in the Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez adaptation of Sin City and its sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Dawson has also provided voice acting for numerous animated comic adaptations, including the voice of Wonder Woman in several DC animated series and Batgirl in The Lego Batman Movie.
This is DuVernay’s second project with DC, as she is also involved with the film adaptation of Jack Kirby’s New Gods. DuVernay is also currently working on the series Cherish the Day on OWN, which premieres in February. A premiere date and episode count for DMZ have not yet been announced.