The White Lotus and Insecure star Natasha Rothwell is set to star in and co-showrun her own series on Hulu, as Onyx Collective has announced they have greenlit her comedy series, How to Die Alone.
According to the streamer, How to Die Alone will follow Melissa, “a fat, black, neurotic woman who has never been in love. After a comical brush with death, she refuses to settle for anything less than the life she wants, catapulting her on a journey to becoming ‘100 percent that bitch’ in real life by any means necessary.”
(Credit: Merie W. Wallace/HBO)
The show has a straight-to-series order, and the first season will have an eight-episode run. Vera Santamaria, who previously produced on another Hulu show, PEN15, is set to co-showrun the series.
Rothwell has an overall deal with both Onyx Collective and ABC Signature, and this will be their first project together. Onyx Collective was launched in 2021 by Tara Duncan with a goal of highlighting and championing the work of underrepresented voices.
Duncan is also president of Freeform, Disney’s cable network for younger audiences. Onyx has signed overall deals with an impressive roaster so far, including Ryan Coogler, Destin Daniel Cretton, and Prentice Penny. Their first scripted drama is Reasonable Doubt, produced by Kerry Washington.
Rothwell was recently nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Emmy in a Limited Series for her performance as Belinda in the first season of The White Lotus, and previously played Issa’s (Issa Rae) close friend Kelli in Insecure. How to Die Alone will mark her transition from supporting to leading roles.
Rothwell also wrote and produced on Insecure, and has writing credits on Saturday Night Live, Love, Simon, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Wonder Woman 1984.
No release date is set yet, but stay tuned for more information.
How to Die Alone, TBD, Hulu