EXCLUSIVE: NBC is developing Truth, a drama series from Dallas Jackson (Thriller, Welcome To Sudden Death), David Marshall Grant (Brothers and Sisters, Nashville), Malcolm D. Lee (The Best Man franchise, Girls Trip) and his Blackmaled Productions, and Universal Television.
Written by Jackson and Grant, Truth is based on the life of Dr. Roger Mitchell, Jr. and his time as Washington, D.C.’s youngest and first Black chief medical examiner. The series focuses on Xavier “Truth” Hall, the youngest chief medical examiner to take over a major-city morgue (Washington, D.C.), using his genius level medical knowledge to help solve mysteries about how people die and to give families closure. He’s also using the lessons of the dead to help the living, including his own estranged drug addicted father.
Jackson and Grant executive produce with Lee, who directs, Dominique Telson and Michael Scott Allen. Mitchell Jr. serves as co-executive producer. Project is produced by Lee’s Blackmaled Productions. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio.
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Jackson was the writer/director of horror/crime drama Thriller and also writer/director of Welcome to Sudden Death and The System. He served as executive producer of ABC’s Rebel. He also sold a series to Paramount+ with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s G-Unit Film and Television. Jackson is repped by Industry Entertainment, Verve and attorney Darren Trattner.
Grant has served as writer/executive producer on Brothers and Sisters, Nashville, Smash, Code Black and A Million Little Things. He recently co-wrote Michael Showalter’s film Spoiler Alert. He currently has a film in development at Constine with Cathy Konrad and the James Patterson Company. Grant is repped by Innovative Artists Entertainment and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
Lee is a filmmaker, writer and producer whose films include The Best Man franchise, Girls Trip, and Night School. He’s currently directing and executive producing spy procedural Need to Know, as well as a television adaptation of Ellen Won Steil’s novel Becoming Marlowe Fin, via his Blackmaled Productions, both in development at NBC. Lee expanded his storytelling into the literary world with the release of his debut novel, The Best Man: Unfinished Business, the first in a planned trilogy that continues the journey of the iconic characters from his film series. Lee’s untitled next feature film, starring Lynn Whitfield, Chloe Bailey and Coco Jones, hits theaters in 2026. Lee is repped by IAG and Del Shaw Moonves.
Mitchell Jr. is a board-certified forensic pathologist, having worked 20 years in the discipline. He recently served as President of Howard University Hospital. Having previously served as Chief Medical Examiner for Washington, D.C., he, at one point, was the youngest chief medical examiner in the country. He is the co-author of the book Death in Custody: How America Ignores the Truth and What We Can Do About It and co-host of the recent NAACP Image Awards-nominated podcast Official Ignorance – The Death in Custody Podcast. He’s repped by IAG.