Blair Underwood & Keke Palmer Join Cicely Tyson & Vanessa Williams in The Trip to Bountiful TV Remake

Next stop, Bountiful! Blair Underwood and Keke Palmer are on tap to appear in the Lifetime TV remake of The Trip to Bountiful, alongside previously announced Tony winner and Oscar nominee Cicely Tyson and Tony nominee Vanessa Williams. Tyson and Williams recently starred in the Broadway revival of Horton Foote’s celebrated drama, and will reprise the roles of Carrie Watts and Jessie Mae Watts, respectively, in the new TV reboot. Filming is slated to begin November 14 in Atlanta, GA. Directed by Bountiful on Broadway director Michael Wilson, the adaptation will premiere in 2014.

Underwood made his Broadway debut in A Streetcar Named Desire. His many film and TV credits include Ironside, Dirty Sexy Money, The New Adventures of Old Christine, L.A. Law, Gattaca, The Event, Thunder and Lightning, One Life to Live and Deep Impact. He is a Grammy winner for the audiobook of An Inconvenient Truth.

Palmer’s film and TV credits include Akeelah and the Bee, Joyful Noise, Cleaner, True Jackson, VP, Winx Club, 90210 and Key and Peele. Her debut album So Uncool was released by Atlantic Records in 2007.

The TV movie centers on Carrie Watts (Tyson), an elderly woman who begrudgingly lives with her busy, overprotective son Ludie (Underwood) and her snooty daughter-in-law Jessie Mae (Williams). Forbidden to travel alone, Carrie longs to escape the confines of the house and return to her hometown of Bountiful, Texas. Palmer will play Thelma, a young woman Carrie meets on her travels.

The Trip to Bountiful returns to the small screen after a 60-year absence—the drama began as an NBC teleplay in 1953. Foote then adapted his work for the stage, where it premiered at Broadway’s Henry Miller’s Theatre on November 3, 1953. The play inspired a 1985 film adaptation, starring Geraldine Page, John Heard and Rebecca De Mornay. In the most recent Broadway revival, Tyson garnered a Tony Award for Best Actress for her performance. The production played its final performance October 9.