The summer Netflix hit broke some new ground for representation.

Viola Davis is one of our best actors working today, routinely crushing in works like Widows and How to Get Away with Murder. Gina Prince-Bythewood is one of our best directors working today, having just crushed the Netflix Charlize Theron actioner The Old Guard. The idea of the two of them making a film together excites me; that film telling an incredible, amazing true story excites me doubly. Well, that idea is now a reality, and my excitement is now, heck, quadrupled! Per Variety, Prince-Bythewood will direct Davis in the leading role of the upcoming The Woman King. …

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Watching Gina Prince-Bythewood’s new movie The Old Guard, I was reminded of another Netflix actioner: last December’s 6 Underground. Both films involved a covert group of mercenaries who live off the grid. But whereas Michael Bay’s movie was total fucking garbage, Prince-Bythewood shows her peers how it’s done by creating the best Netflix action movie thus far. The trick of Prince-Bythewood’s movie is that rather than simply investing in lavish set pieces and coasting on charismatic actors, the director and screenwriter Greg Rucka put in the work of making you care about …