‘Roots’ Remake A Go As Event Series On History, A&E & Lifetime; Will Packer & Original Star LeVar Burton To Produce.

A remake of the Roots miniseries has been announced.
The reboot will air on the History Channel, A&E and Lifetime in 2016.
LeVar Burton, who starred in the original series as Kunta Kinte, will be one of the executive producers on the project.
Roots aired in 1977 and the miniseries was nominated for thirty-seven Emmy nominations, winning nine Emmys.

The reboot will “[incorporate] more material from Alex Haley’s novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family,” and will benefit from “carefully researched new scholarship of the time.”
“My career began with Roots and I am proud to be a part of this new adaptation,” said Burton. “There is a huge audience of contemporary young Americans who do not know the story of Roots or its importance. I believe now is the right time to tell this story so that we can all be reminded of its impact on our culture and identity.”
“Roots was a groundbreaking television milestone that has had an enduring effect on American culture,” said the History Channel‘s Dirk Hoogstra. “We are proud to bring this saga to fans of the original, as well as to a new generation that will experience this powerful and poignant tale for the first time.”
Roots will be written by Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal, Alison McDonald, and Charles Murray.

Source: The Hollywood Reportervia Deadline