Cynthia Erivo’s ‘Genius: Aretha’ concludes filming

Los Angeles, Nov 27: Cynthia Erivo-starrer National Geographic series “Genius: Aretha” has wrapped production.
Erivo, known for movies such as “Widows” and “Harriet”, is portraying music legend Aretha Franklin in the third chapter of the anthology series.
The first and second seasons of the show explored the lives of famous German scientist Albert Einstein and Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, respectively.
The news of series concluding production was shared by National Geographic on Instagram. The channel also revealed that the new season will debut in 2021.
“That’s a wrap! #GeniusAretha coming 2021,” the channel posted, alongside a photo of Erivo as Franklin.
“Genius: Aretha” had filmed five episodes of its eight-episode order when production shut down mid-March amid the escalating coronavirus outbreak, reported Deadline.
After extensive prep work, the show restarted production on October 1 in Atlanta, Georgia. Three weeks later, filming came to a halt for a couple of days after a background actor tested positive for Covid-19.
The new season will also feature Courtney B. Vance, Malcolm Barrett, Patrice Covington, Kimberly Hebert Gregory, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Shaian Jordan and Marque Richardson.
Suzan-Lori Parks serve as the showrunner with Anthony Hemingway as the director.
“Genius: Aretha” has been produced by Imagine Television and Touchstone TV. (PTI)