Rutina Wesley to star in Ava DuVernay's OWN series 'Queen Sugar'

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- True Blood alum Rutina Wesley is to star in Queen Sugar, a new series from filmmaker Ava DuVernay set to air on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network.

Based on Natalie Baszile's novel and produced by Warner Horizon Television, the drama casts Wesley as Nova Bordelon, a "formidable journalist and activist based in New Orleans," a press release said.

"Her life, and that of her brother and their extended family, undergoes significant change when her sister, Charley, returns to Louisiana from Los Angeles to help run the family sugarcane farm."

Winfrey and DuVernay, who collaborated on the Oscar-nominated 2014 movie Selma, are executive producing Queen Sugar.

Wesley's other credits include Hannibal, Arrow and The Perfect Guy.