--- title: Viola Davis Will Play Harriet Tubman in HBO Biopic description: Oscar-nominated actress Viola Davis will play Harriet Tubman in an HBO Films and Amblin TV production, EW has confirmed. The untitled project is based on... canonical: https://time.com/3837830/viola-davis-harriet-tubman-hbo-bound-for-the-promised-land-ciivil-war/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-28T07:42:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:43:54.380Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Viola Davis Will Play Harriet Tubman in HBO Biopic og:description: The untitled project is based on a Kate Clifford Larson book og:url: https://time.com/3837830/viola-davis-harriet-tubman-hbo-bound-for-the-promised-land-ciivil-war/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Viola Davis Will Play Harriet Tubman in HBO Biopic twitter:description: The untitled project is based on a Kate Clifford Larson book twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Viola Davis Will Play Harriet Tubman in HBO Biopic by [Will Robinson / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Will Robinson / Entertainment Weekly Apr 28, 2015 7:42 AM UTC by [Will Robinson / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Will Robinson / Entertainment Weekly Apr 28, 2015 7:42 AM UTC Oscar-nominated actress Viola Davis will play Harriet Tubman in an HBO Films and Amblin TV production, _EW_ has confirmed. The untitled project is based on Kate Clifford Larson’s book _Bound for the Promised Land_, the 2003 biographic novel on the Civil War-era abolitionist and prominent Underground Railroad worker. [_Deadline_](http://deadline.com/2015/04/viola-davis-star-harriet-tubman-hbo-movie-kirk-ellis-doug-ellin-amblin-1201417111/) first reported the news. This is the third Underground Railroad-related project in the works: WGN has a 10-episode production titled _Underground_ helmed by Akiva Goldsman, while NBC is working on miniseries _Freedom Run_, produced by Stevie Wonder. Kirk Ellis, who penned acclaimed HBO miniseries _John Adams_, will write the film. Davis will be an executive producer, along with Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, Doug Ellin, Jim Lefkowitz, Cliff Dorfman, and Julius Tennon. [_This article originally appeared on EW.com_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/27/viola-davis-will-play-harriet-tubman-hbo-movie) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3837830/viola-davis-harriet-tubman-hbo-bound-for-the-promised-land-ciivil-war/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3837830/viola-davis-harriet-tubman-hbo-bound-for-the-promised-land-ciivil-war/"},"headline":"Viola Davis Will Play Harriet Tubman in HBO Biopic","datePublished":"2015-04-28T07:42:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:43:54.380Z","description":"Oscar-nominated actress Viola Davis will play Harriet Tubman in an HBO Films and Amblin TV production, EW has confirmed. The untitled project is based on...","url":"https://time.com/3837830/viola-davis-harriet-tubman-hbo-bound-for-the-promised-land-ciivil-war/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Will Robinson / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3837830/viola-davis-harriet-tubman-hbo-bound-for-the-promised-land-ciivil-war/","name":"Viola Davis Will Play Harriet Tubman in HBO Biopic"}}]}] ```