Donald Glover Will Make His TV Directorial Debut With FX Series 'Atlanta'

Donald Glover will direct two episodes of his FX series 'Atlanta,' marking his TV directorial debut.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

Why be just one thing when you can very successfully be all the things? Perhaps no one has embodied that ethos more than Donald Glover, whose refusal to be pigeonholed into a singular categorization has arguably inspired an entire generation of creatives to do the same. As we inch closer to the premiere of his long-awaited Atlanta series, the FX project's mysterious teasers and cerebral social media presence have slowly but surely been complemented by some concrete details about the show itself. First up, who's sitting in the director's chair?

Fittingly, that distinction will go to Glover himself on two episodes of the Georgia-based TV show. Glover is helming the sixth and seventh episodes of Atlanta's inaugural season, IndieWirereports. Those episodes will air Oct. 4 and Oct. 11, respectively. During this week's Television Critics Association press panel, Glover and Atlanta's main director Hiro Murai spoke briefly about the narrative switch-up in episode six.

"I directed an episode that was [Zazie Beetz]'s character Van-centric," Glover said. "It was so much fun, like, just because I was, like, 'Can you pull that off? Oh, you can pull that off? Oh, you did it better than I expected,' every step of the way." Murai added that the episode is one of his favorites, noting its "funny dynamic" and calling Glover a "complete natural" when it comes to directing.

Glover previously directed the short film "Chicken and Futility," which he also wrote and starred in. The three-minute short taps into the same loose style found in the early teasers for Atlanta, showing Because the Internet character The Boy chatting it up with Steve Glover and Swank about everything from joint-rolling techniques to the general sadness associated with being a moth:

View this video on YouTube

youtube.com

Atlanta premieres Sept. 6 on FX. In the meantime, we highly recommend you peep the show's official Twitter page for a daily dose of internet-ready existentialism.

Latest in Pop Culture