‘Lean On Me’ Is Being Adapted For TV, Thanks To LeBron James, John Legend, And Wendy Calhoun
LeBron James is on a roll, and he refuses to just “shut up a dribble,” much to the chagrin of his critics. Over the past few months, the NBA star has not only opened a groundbreaking new school in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, but he’s also negotiated several deals with networks like NBC, Netflix, and Showtime to bring interesting narratives to life. And James just added one more project to his already crowded list. James has partnered with John Legend and Wendy Calhoun to bring Lean On Me to the small screen. Inspired by the classic 1989 film, which starred Morgan Freeman as fiery educator, Joe Clark, the series will center on Amarie Baldwin, a young Black teacher who’s hired to be the principal at a struggling Akron high school. Like the original film, the show will reportedly highlight how the system regularly fails kids of color, and Amarie must overcome a slew of obstacles to help her students succeed. Calhoun — who recently inked an overall deal with Warner Bros. TV — will serve as writer and executive producer on the project, with Legend, James and his Springhill Entertainment business partner, Maverick Carter, also executive producing. The news of the Lean On Me series adaptation comes on the heels of more big announcements for James and Legend. The award-winning singer will join The Voice for its 16th season as a coach, and the basketball star will executive produce a pair of scripted projects for NBC.
