Ready to go back to the barbershop? It’s been almost a decade since the last Barbershop movie hit theaters, but now, Amazon Prime Video is bringing forward a new story set in the world of the beloved establishment.
On Monday (May 12), the streamer announced at its annual upfront presentation that it has ordered to series a new Barbershop series, starring Jermaine Fowler in the lead as Travis “Trav” Porter, the grandson of the legendary barber who made Calvin’s such a destination for new ‘dos.
The description for the series reveals, “[Trav] endeavors to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, a legendary barber at the iconic Calvin’s barbershop in Chicago. And while the barbers are new, the shop remains just as lively, the customers just as argumentative, and the fades are still the dopest in the city — because at Calvin’s, the community comes together for way more than just a haircut.”
Marshall Todd serves as writer and executive producer on the series, and Max Searle is co-showrunner and executive producer.
In a statement, Amazon MGM Studios’ head of television, Vernon Sanders, said of the news, “We are thrilled to announce a new series based on the hilarious and innovative world of Barbershop for our global Prime Video customers. The television adaptation of this iconic film franchise is in excellent hands with co-showrunners Max Searle and Marshall Todd. We couldn’t be happier with their collaboration and hard work to bring Calvin’s Chicago-based barbershop to life for a new audience on Prime Video.”
The series comes from Hartbeat, Prominent Productions, and State Street Pictures and is produced by Amazon MGM Studios.
The Barbershop show will be the sixth installment in the franchise. It first began in the 2002 comedy, centering on Ice Cube‘s Calvin as he inherited the barbershop from his father and, after selling it to a loan shark, sought to reclaim his father’s legacy.
The second film, 2004’s Barbershop 2: Back in Business, picked up as Calvin and his employees dealt with in-fighting and competition from the outside. In 2005, the spinoff film Beauty Shop featured Queen Latifah as Gina Norris, a hairstylist and widow who moved from Chicago to Atlanta and tried to set up her own shop in the South.
Also released in 2005 was a short-lived TV series called Barbershop, which aired on Showtime. It featured Omar Gooding as Calvin Palmer Jr. and lasted just one season on the pay cable network.
After a decade of absence from screens, Barbershop: The Next Cut was released in 2016 and was a direct sequel to Barbershop 2, following Cedric and Angie (Regina Hall) as they ran the barbershop amid struggles with gang violence in the neighborhood.