Sundance extends Hap & Leonard

Hap & Leonard is based on the novels by Joe Lansdale

Sundance TV has renewed its drama Hap & Leonard, about two unlikely friends living in East Texas during the 1980s.

The show, created by Jim Mickle and Nick Damici, is based on novels by Joe Lansdale that explore the friendship between a white, working class conscientious objector and a black, gay Vietnam veteran.

It stars James Purefoy and Michael Kenneth Williams and is produced by Sundance Studios, with the second season taking inspiration from Mucho Mojo, the second instalment of the book series.

The six-part second run will air in 2017 and has John Wirth (Hell on Wheels, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) attached as showrunner and executive producer.

Sundance’s previous original scripted efforts include Rectify, its BBC coproduction The Honourable Woman and The Red Road.

The US channel is also seeking a replacement for Christian Vesper, its former senior VP of international programming and development, who joined FremantleMedia recently, as first reported by C21.