Apple TV+ today unveiled a first look at “The Big Cigar,” the highly anticipated limited drama series that chronicles the story of Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton’s escape to Cuba, and is based on the monumental, eponymous magazine article of the same name. “The Big Cigar” makes its global debut on May 17 with the first two episodes, followed by new episodes every Friday through June 14. Legendary award-winning actor, producer and director Don Cheadle serves as director and executive producer on the first two episodes.

Based on the magazine article by Joshuah Bearman (“Argo”), who will also serve as executive producer, “The Big Cigar” is the incredible true story of Hollywood revolution meeting social revolution: it’s a wild caper of Black Panther founder Newton escaping from the FBI to Cuba with the assistance of famed producer Bert Schneider in an impossibly elaborate plan — involving a fake movie production — that goes wrong every way it possibly can. And somehow, it’s all true. Mostly.

André Holland leads a renowned ensemble cast including Alessandro Nivola, Tiffany Boone, P. J. Byrne, Marc Menchaca, Moses Ingram, Rebecca Dalton, Olli Haaskivi, Jordane Christie and Glynn Turman.

The Big Cigar‘s showrunner is NAACP Image Award winner Janine Sherman Barrois (“Claws,” “The Kings of Napa”) and Jim Hecht (“Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”) penned the show’s first episode. The series hails from Warner Bros. Television, where Barrois and her Folding Chair Productions are under an overall deal. Barrois and Hecht are executive producing alongside Bearman, Joshua Davis and Arthur Spector (“Little America”) through their production company Epic.

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