Baz Luhrmann Hip-Hop Drama Heads to Netflix—Is This the Next Empire?

Netflix's new series, set to debut in 2016, is set in New York City in the 1970s.

By Chris Harnick Feb 05, 2015 6:21 PMTags
The Get Down, Baz LuhrmannNetflix; Wireimage

Is the next Empire already on its way? Netflix announced it has ordered 13 episodes of Baz Luhrmann's first TV show, The Get Down, a musical drama set in the 1970s. No official premiere date has been set besides the year: 2016.

The Get Down is set to explore New York City's hip-hop era, following a group of "rag-tag" South Bronx teenagers who must depend on each other to survive and thrive. The show will also explore the SoHo art scene, Studio 54 and CBGB, and is described as "a mythic saga of how New York at the brink of bankruptcy gave birth to hip-hop, punk and disco—told through the lives and music of the South Bronx kids who changed the city, and the world...forever."

No cast has been announced.

"In this golden era of TV, the Netflix culture puts no constraint on creative possibilities. So it is a natural home for The Get Down, a project I have been contemplating and working on now for over 10 years. Throughout, I've been obsessed with the idea of how a city in its lowest moment, forgotten and half destroyed, could give birth to such creativity and originality in music, art and culture. I'm thrilled to be working with my partners at Sony and collaborating with a team of extraordinary writers and musicians, many of whom grew up with and lived the story we've set out to tell," Luhrmann said in a statement.

Luhrmann is set to direct three episodes, the first two and the season finale. Oscar winner Catherine Martin will serve as executive producer, and costume and production designer on the series. The Shield's Shawn Ryan, Paul Watters, Thomas Kelly, Stephen Adly Guirgis and Marney Hochman are also on the project as executive producers.

"From his very first and magnificently original steps on the world stage with Strictly Ballroom to his most recent with The Great Gatsby, Baz conjures worlds we may not recognize initially, but once there, realize they are infused with the same dreams of every person—to belong, to matter, to live life to its fullest," Cindy Holland, vice president of original content at Netflix, said in a statement. "We are thrilled to support Baz, Catherine and Paul and their team in their quest to illuminate those same dreams through the artists who came of age in the cauldron of the Bronx in the late 1970s."