Hulu Releases the First Look at 'Queenie'

Candice Carty-Williams' Champion arrived on Netflix in January with little marketing and has since been a sleeper hit thanks to the streaming service's algorithm and word-of-mouth. Now her second series, but her first hit from across the pond, Queenie, is heading to the small screen for the spring of 2024. Based on Carty-Williams' best-selling novel, which became the first book to win the Best British Novel by a Black author, the series, which is a co-production from Channel 4 and Hulu's Onyx Collective, has released its first images. 

The eight-part drama series will air on Channel 4 before it arrives in America on Hulu in June 2024. The series stars Dionne Brown, who only just recently broke out thanks to her role in Apple TV+'s Criminal Record, in the titular role. The 25-year-old British-Jamaican Queenie Jenkins has just been dumped by her long-term boyfriend, Tom, played by Jon Pointing (Big Boys); the series is billed as "a razor-sharp, utterly honest, blisteringly funny and achingly yet beautifully relatable series, full of as much heart and soul as the lady herself. At its core, it’s a story about a young Black woman’s value and the unrelenting trials and tribulations of life."

Like Champion, Queenie will introduce new Black British talent to the screen, cast R&B stars in prominent roles, and include music and the score as a major part of the story. Though it is not quite as musically based as the Netflix series, Carty-Williams' series is steeped in modern Black British culture and gives viewers a slice of the U.K. that American television has sorely lacked. 

Here's the series synopsis:

Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in south London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. After a messy breakup with her long-term boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places and begins to realize she has to face the past head-on before she can rebuild. The series is based on the best-selling novel by Candice Carty-Williams.

The series stars Dionne Brown (Criminal Record) as the titular lead role of Queenie, Samuel Adewunmi (Prime Suspect: Tennison) as Frank, and Bellah as Kyazike, marking the rising R&B singer’s acting debut. Other co-stars include Joseph Marcell (The Sandman), Llewella Gideon (Rye Lane), Michelle Greenidge (It's A Sin), Sally Phillips (Bridget Jones), Tilly Keeper (You), Elisha Applebaum (Fate: The Winx Saga), Mim Shaikh (Informer), Joseph Ollman (Domina), Melissa Johns (Grantchester), Laura Whitmore (Sadhbh) and newcomer Cristale De’Abreu. 

Carty-Williams serves as showrunner and writer, along with Ryan Calais Cameron, Yolanda Mercy, Natasha Brown, and Thara Popoola. Directors Joelle Mae David and Makalla McPherson helmed the eight episodes. Carty-Williams executive produced with Further South’s Steve November and Sarah Conroy; Lisa Walters is a co-executive producer and series producer. The score is by Ivor Novello-nominated producer Swindle. 

Queenie is set to premiere on Friday, June 7, 2024, on Hulu, with all episodes streaming at once.