It comes after the project first emerged in development at CBS All Access in October 2020, with Tracy McMillan set to write the script and Angela Robinson on board to direct.
Simien signed an overall deal in August with Paramount Television Studios, which is behind the adaptation, moving from Lionsgate, where he produced four seasons of Dear White People, adapted from his own feature film for Netflix. The series aired its fourth and final season in September.
The McMillan- and Robinson-led Flashdance reboot is set to revolve around a young Black woman with ballet dreams and a strip club reality who struggles to find her place in the world. The film was released in 1983 and starred Jennifer Beals as a young dancer aspiring to become a professional ballerina. Michael Nouri played her boyfriend and the owner of the steel mill where she worked. It was the first collaboration between Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer.
Earlier, Paramount+ also revealed it was also developing a new series based on Urban Cowboy.
