Viola Davis to play Harriet Tubman in HBO biopic

LOS ANGELES, April 28 (UPI) -- Viola Davis is developing an HBO biopic about Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery and led others to freedom through the Underground Railroad.

The two-time Oscar nominee will play Tubman in a script penned by Kirk Ellis, who wrote HBO miniseries John Adams, which won four Golden Globe Awards.

"Stay tuned," Davis tweeted Monday of the news.

Davis will develop the film through JuVee Productions, the company she co-founded with her husband, Julius Tennon, to create more opportunities for black actors.

The film will be based on Kate Clifford Larson's 2004 book, Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero.

Bound for the Promised Land details Tubman's life as a African-American woman who escaped slavery and became a so-called "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, a chain of safe houses used to guide slaves to freedom.

Tubman went on to become a Union spy during the Civil War.

Davis currently stars in ABC's How to Get Away With Murder, which garnered her a SAG Award in January.