John Boyega aka Finn from Star Wars and Letitia Wright aka scene-stealer Shuri from Black Panther have signed on for new TV drama coming next year titled ‘Small Axe’. Steve McQueen, Oscar-winning Director of 12 Years A Slave and Widows (not to mention Shame, an amazing movie featuring Michael Fassbender’s big willy, check it out) is helming the project, so expect big things (no pun intended).

The show is being produced by the BBC in the UK, and has been snapped up by Amazon in the USA. Boyega and Wright are joined by an all-star British cast, including Malachi Kirby (Black Mirror), Alex Jennings (Victoria) and Jack Lowden (who we f***ing loved in Calibre).

Aiming to tell five different stories in a total of six episodes, McQueen has spent years developing the project:

‘I felt these stories needed to be shared,’ he said, ‘I wanted to relive, re-evaluate and investigate the journeys that my parents and the first generation of West Indians went on to deliver me here today calling myself a black British person. What’s important about our stories is that they are local but at the same time global.’

The show’s title is the name of a Bob Marley song from his album ‘Catch A Fire‘, but also, more importantly, comes from a Jamaican proverb – ‘If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.’

According to Deadline, it will centre around a small restaurant in London’s Ladbroke Grove area. It seems the show will tackle modern themes through a historic lens, McQueen said:

‘I think audiences will identify with the trials, tribulations and joy of our characters as well as reflecting on the present environment in which we find ourselves.

It’s a warm welcome home for Boyega and Wright too, who are graduates of Identity School of Acting, based in Holborn.