News of November 18, 2020
After Pandemic Pause: Allen Hughes Resumes Work on Tupac Series
Following the COVID shutdown, Allen Hughes resumed work on “Outlaw.” Why the forced pause added depth to conversations about Tupac and Afeni Shakur.
Preliminary discussions and some interviews over Zoom were no equal substitute for in-person encounters for Allen Hughes, not even at a distance of two meters. The COVID-19 pandemic had initially brought production to a standstill. On November 18, 2020, Deadline reported exclusively that Hughes had resumed work on the five-part FX docuseries Outlaw: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur.
After Quarantine, Conversations Went Deeper
What surprised him, he said, was how much richer the later conversations turned out to be. Hughes attributed this to the soul-searching during the long quarantine and to the turmoil of the year, especially following the death of George Floyd. As a target, he named an air date in spring 2022.
“Outlaw” Became “Dear Mama”
FX had already ordered the series in August 2019. On April 21, 2023, it was finally released under the title Dear Mama. It chronicles the life of Tupac and his mother Afeni Shakur.