Atlanta (TV series)
Atlanta is an American comedy-drama television series created by Donald Glover. The series follows college dropout and music manager Earnest "Earn" Marks (Glover) and rapper Alfred "Paper Boi" Miles (Brian Tyree Henry) as they navigate a strange, seemingly otherworldly Atlanta hip hop scene. Atlanta also stars LaKeith Stanfield as Darius, Earn and Alfred's eccentric friend, and Zazie Beetz as Vanessa "Van" Kiefer, Earn's on-again-off-again girlfriend and the mother of his daughter.
Atlanta
- Donald Glover
- Brian Tyree Henry
- LaKeith Stanfield
- Zazie Beetz
United States
English
4
41 (list of episodes)
- Donald Glover
- Paul Simms
- Dianne McGunigle
- Stephen Glover
- Hiro Murai
- Atlanta, Georgia
- London (season 3)
- Amsterdam (season 3)
- Paris (season 3)
- New York, New York (season 3)
- Christian Sprenger
- Stephen Murphy
- Gabriel Patay
- Isaac Hagy
- Kyle Reiter
- Ivan Victor
- Jen Bryson
- Cameron Ross
22–39 minutes
- RBA (seasons 1–2)
- Gilga (seasons 3–4)
- 343 Incorporated
- MGMT. Entertainment
- FXP
September 6, 2016 –
November 10, 2022
The series was produced by RBA, 343 Incorporated, MGMT. Entertainment, and FXP and is primarily set and filmed in Atlanta and the surrounding Georgia area; the third season features international filming locations. Atlanta is one of the only American cable television series to feature an all-Black writing staff (featuring Glover as writer, executive producer and showrunner),[6][7] with much of the focus set on examining race, class, identity, the American Dream, existentialism and modern African-American culture through an Afro-Surrealist lens.[8] It is also notable for its use of bottle and standalone episodes, which often do not feature the main cast.
Atlanta premiered on September 6, 2016,[9] and was initially exclusively broadcast on cable channel FX in the United States and in other countries through the Fox Networks Group, and was distributed in the United States by Disney–ABC Domestic Television. The fourth and final season concluded on November 10, 2022,[10][11] with the series containing 41 episodes overall.
Atlanta is widely regarded as one of the best television series of the 2010s.[12][13][14][15] It has received numerous awards and nominations, including two Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy; Glover has received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy, and two Primetime Emmy Awards, one for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and one Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, the latter being the first ever awarded to an African American.
Plot[edit]
The series follows Earn (Donald Glover) during his daily life in Atlanta, Georgia, as he tries to redeem himself in the eyes of his ex-girlfriend Van (Zazie Beetz), who is also the mother of his daughter Lottie, as well as his parents and his cousin Alfred (Brian Tyree Henry), who raps under the stage name "Paper Boi". Having dropped out of Princeton University, Earn has no money and no home and consequently alternates between staying with his parents and his ex-girlfriend. Once he realizes that his cousin is on the verge of stardom, he seeks to reconnect with him in order to improve his life and the life of his daughter.
Although there is an overarching story depicting Earn and Paper Boi's struggles as the latter ascends through the hip hop scene, the series has been noted for its lack of emphasis on multi-episode story arcs, instead using a somewhat surrealistic style of episodic storytelling that Glover has likened to short stories, as have some critics.[16][17][18]
Production[edit]
FX first began developing the show in August 2013,[20] and then the pilot was ordered to series by FX Networks in December 2014.[21] It was directed by Hiro Murai and shot in Atlanta.[22] It got picked up to series with a ten-episode order in October 2015.[23] Glover, who grew up in Atlanta and also works as a musician, stated that "the city influenced the tone of the show".[24]
The series is also notable for having an all-Black writing staff, which is virtually unheard of in American television. The writers' room consists of Glover himself, his brother Stephen Glover, and members of his rap collective 'Royalty' including Fam Udeorji (Glover's manager), Ibra Ake (Glover's longtime photographer) and Jamal Olori. Stefani Robinson, a writer for Man Seeking Woman, and Taofik Kolade round out the writers' room.[25][26] During an interview with The New Yorker, Glover stated the characters smoke cannabis because "they have PTSD—every Black person does".[27] The show is shot in 2K resolution, produced and edited by Kyle Reiter and Isaac Hagy, and broadcast on FX in 720p.[28]
In January 2017, the series was renewed for a second season; however, FX announced the series would not return until 2018 due to Glover's busy production schedule.[29] Glover revealed that the second season takes inspiration from Tiny Toon Adventures, specifically How I Spent My Vacation.[30]
The series was renewed for a third season in June 2018, which was originally planned for a 2019 premiere,[31] but was delayed due to scheduling conflicts.[32] In August 2019, FX renewed the series for a fourth season and announced that the third and fourth seasons would begin filming in early 2020, with each season consisting of eight episodes.[33] In January 2020, FX announced that the third season's episode count was increased to 10 episodes, and that both seasons were planned to air in 2021—season 3 in January and season 4 later that year.[34] Both seasons were also planned to be shot together and that one of the seasons would be filmed outside the United States.[34] However, production was postponed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[35] In September 2020, it was reported that the third season would not be able to make the January 2021 premiere date that was originally planned.[36] Filming for the third and fourth seasons began in early April 2021, in London, with additional filming in Amsterdam and Paris.[37][38] By August 2021, filming for the third season was completed and production began on the fourth season in Atlanta, and it was confirmed that the third season would premiere in early 2022.[39] The third season premiered with two episodes on March 24, 2022.[40]
By February 2022, both seasons three and four had completed filming, and it was announced that the fourth would be the final season.[10]
