THR reports that Malaika Hennie-Hamadi and Hannan Younis have nabbed the lead roles in the Canadian streaming TV comedy Bria Mack Gets A Life. Production will start rolling this week on the half-hour comedy from creator and showrunner Sasha Leigh Henry ; New Metric Media, the producer of Letterkenny and Shoresy ; and the Crave streaming TV service.
Hennie-Hamadi will play Bria “Mack” McFarlane, a 25-year-old Black woman and university graduate in a mainly white world, a journey made both difficult and tolerable by Black Attack, her invisible hype girl played by Younis who helps her navigate life’s frustrations and hurdles.
As Bria balances being the most educated family member and her overdue credit card bill, Black Attack expresses her inner thoughts that reveal who Bria wants to be, but doesn’t believe she’s allowed to. Just as Bria moves back home and her mother looks to retire, she has to assemble her life — friends, dating, a place to live, and most importantly, a job to fund it all — before time runs out.
Hennie-Hamadi has TV credits with Age of the Living Dead, The Handmaid’s Tale and the Fear Thy Roommate crime drama. Younis’ small screen credits include Ruby and the Well, TallBoyz, Firestarter and The Boys .
Bria Mack Gets A Life is executive produced by Leigh-Henry, Mark Montefiore and Tania Thompson, with Angelique Knights and Tamar Bird serving as producers. Leigh-Henry and Kelly Fyffe-Marshall will direct episodes of the homegrown comedy set to shoot in Toronto through Nov. 8.
