*Whoa! Now this sounds like it could be good. Really good. Tika Sumpter, who’s currently starring at the box office in “Southside and You” and on Oprah’s OWN in “The Haves and Have Nots,” has got a new project. She’s set to co-executive produce and star in a new drama for CBS called “The 313.”
313 of course is the area code for Detroit which is where the series will be set. The premise is that a sex scandal has brought down the current administration and suddenly a 29-year-old female City Council President (Sumpter) becomes the Mayor of Detroit and has to deal with all the drama the job brings.
The project is the creation of writer Tracy McMillan (“Satisfaction,” “Mad Men”) and producer Michael London. It’s London’s first broadcast sale under the first-look deal he and his production company, Groundswell Productions, entered with CBS TV Studios in June, according to Deadline. The project was brought to Groundswell by director of development Hilary Zaitz Michael.
As we noted above, Sumpter was recently seen playing young Michelle Obama in the feature film “Southside with You,” which she also produced. Of course she played Kevin Hart’s girlfriend in the two “Ride Along” films. Meanwhile, her hit drama series from OWN and Tyler Perry, “The Have and the Have Nots,” is set to return with new episodes in January.
Deadline notes that the OWN series films its seasons in condensed production windows, which frees up actors to take on other projects. However, the site says that going forward, “The 313” will have Sumpter in first position, “but she would be allowed to finish her current obligation to the OWN show on a non-interfering basis.”
Meanwhile, in other Tika Sumpter news, the 36-year-old actress, who is expecting her first child in October, recently sat down with Fit Pregnancy and spoke about how she was able to keep her pregnancy a secret.
“She’s my first child, and I wanted to experience every moment of this pregnancy for myself and enjoy it without everybody else being in it with me,” she said of her soon-to-be daughter. “Until recently, you couldn’t tell if I was pregnant or had a little beer belly!”
“I didn’t want to hear, ‘Who’s the dad?'” said Sumpter, who hasn’t revealed the name of her boyfriend and father of her child. “Social media can be harsh, and I’m a mama bear, protective of my family. So that’s why I waited to tell people, including some of my friends. My friends weren’t mad at me. They said, ‘You did it the way you wanted to do it. You’re an inspiration.'”
You can get the rest of the story at ET.
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