“The Wire’s” Felicia Pearson and Ed Burns are teaming up to develop a limited series based on Pearson’s life,Variety has learned exclusively.
The show is currently titled “A.K.A. Snoop” and would delve into the hardship Pearson endured growing up in Baltimore. Burns and Pearson co-wrote the series. Burns and Philip Michelson from Moondog Films will executive produce the series. At the moment, there is no streaming or network service.
Pearson was three months prematurely born to a crack-addicted mother. Pearson had no chance of survival. In the end, she grew up in a gay Black foster home in a dangerous neighborhood rife with violence and drugs. She was a drug addict as a teenager and spent six years in prison for second-degree murder.
After her release, she met “The Wire” star Michael K. Williams, who brought her to the set. She was subsequently written into the show, with her character sharing her name — Felicia “Snoop” Pearson. Snoop was Marlo Stanfield’s feared enforcer and committed many murders. She appeared in Seasons 3-4, 4 and 5. The role earned Pearson considerable praise and led to an acting career that includes multiple films with Spike Lee and an appearance on the CBS drama “Blue Bloods.”
Burns was instrumental in the creation of “The Wire,” with his experience as a Baltimore detective and later as a Baltimore public school teacher serving as the basis for many of the show’s most well-known storylines. The series ran for its entire run with Pearson serving as both a producer and writer.
He and “The Wire’s” David Simon previously collaborated on the book “The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood,” which became the basis for the HBO miniseries “The Corner” in 2000 prior to “The Wire.” The pair would later work together to co-create the shows “The Plot Against America” and “Generation Kill” for HBO.
Burns is also currently working with Simon and George Pelecanos on the HBO series “We Own This City.” The drama takes them back to the streets of Baltimore, telling the story of the Baltimore Police Department’s infamous Gun Trace Task Force. After decades of unending drug wars and mass incarceration in Baltimore, the plainclothes unit began acting out and started hunting and robbing both citizens and drug dealers.