Tyler Perry and DeVon Franklin’s Bible-Inspired Love Story ‘R&B’ Sets Cast and Director

Netflix has found its Ruth and Boaz.

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Serayah (“Empire,” “Kingdom of Business”), Tyler Lepley (“Harlem,” “P-Valley”) and Phylicia Rashad (“The Gilded Age,” “The Beekeeper”) are set to lead the ensemble cast of “R&B,” the first film out of the streaming giant’s creative partnership to produce faith-based films with DeVon Franklin (“Flamin’ Hot,” “Miracles From Heaven”) and Tyler Perry Studios.

Alanna Brown (“Trees of Peace,” “Blindspotting”) will direct the modern-day retelling of the iconic biblical love story following Ruth and Boaz. Set in Tennessee, “R&B” is about a young woman who escapes the Atlanta music scene to care for an elderly widowed woman, and in the process finds the love of her life and gains the mother she never had.

Michael Elliot (“Brown Sugar”) and Cory Tynan (“Play’d”) penned the script for the project, which will be produced by Franklin and Perry. Angi Bones, Tony L. Strickland and Bart Lipton executive produce.

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Walnette Santiago (“Doom Patrol,” “BMF”), Nijah Brenea (“Kold x Windy,” “Rap Sh!t”), James Lee Thomas (“One Spoon of Chocolate,” “Bad Boys: Ride or Die”), Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds, Jermaine Dupri (“Genius: Aretha,” “Brown Sugar”) and Lecrae Moore round out the cast.

Franklin and Perry first inked their pact with Netflix under a multi-year and multi-picture first-look deal in May of this year. It is the latest expansion of Perry’s creative partnership at Netflix, inked as a first-look film deal in October 2023 and has broadened to include scripted and unscripted TV projects. Perry’s upcoming projects with Netflix include “Six Triple Eight” and “Beauty in Black.”

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