Allen Hughes to Direct Five-Part Tupac Docuseries

For the first time, Tupac’s estate is opening its archive completely to a filmmaker: On May 21, 2019, Deadline reported that director Allen Hughes was directing a five-part docuseries about Tupac. Billboard and NME picked up the report the following day. Hughes has the approval of the estate and full access to released as well as unreleased recordings, writings, and poetry. The estate calls the venture the first comprehensive project on Tupac with its full support.

The Team Is Set, the Network Still Missing

Together with his brother, Hughes directed Menace II Society, and in 2017 helmed the HBO series The Defiant Ones about Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. Lasse Järvi and Charles D. King are named as executive producers. At the time, there was neither a network nor a release date.

From the 1994 Dispute to “Dear Mama”

The choice is notable because Hughes and Tupac had a history: a dispute with the Hughes brothers ended in court in 1994 (background). In August 2019, the project secured a network. It was completed in 2023 as Dear Mama.