Fremantle has taken global rights (excluding US, Canada and Israel) to Enslaved, a six-part documentary series hosted by Samuel L. Jackson.

The series will chart the horror of slavery through underwater archaeology. Created by doc outfit Associated, the series is being timed to coincide with the 400-year anniversary since the first African was brought to the New World as a slave.

Journalist Simcha Jacobovici (The Naked Archaeologist) will helm the series which will retrace the harrowing sea voyage that brought millions of Africans, over hundreds of years, to a life of slavery. The doc and its host Jackson, who is a licensed diver, will go in search of the sunken slave ships that went down with their human cargo. The actor’s own ancestors came from Gabon in West Africa.

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“For me, this is much more than a TV series,” said Jackson “For me, Enslaved is an attempt to give a voice to the millions whose voices were silenced.”

Enslaved is produced by Felix Golubev and Ric Bienstock and executive produced by Samuel L. Jackson, LaTanya Jackson, Eli Selden, Rob Lee, Simcha Jacobovici and Yaron Niski.

Fremantle

Jens Richter, CEO, International, Fremantle, said, “Fremantle has been working with the best international producers to curate the highest quality factual programming, and Enslaved is a remarkable addition to our non-scripted slate. Hosted by the inimitable Samuel L. Jackson, this transformative, moving series exposes the shocking realities of slavery, retracing the traumatic journey they endured which began 400 years ago.”

Simcha Jacobovici, series director and executive producer, Associated Producers, whose previous projects include Atlantis Rising with James Cameron, added, “Our goal is to tell a global story of suffering and resistance, of oppression and overcoming, through the adventure of finding and marking sunken slave ships.”

Fremantle has been building its high-end unscripted slate and recently secured partnerships with producers such as True to Nature for Expedition With Steve Backshall, and Simon Andreae’s Naked Entertainment on Manson: The Lost Tapes. Other series on Fremantle’s slate include In Search Of, a reboot of the iconic 1970’s documentary series about globally unexplained phenomena hosted by Zachary Quinto and I Am Paul Walker, a feature-length documentary film exploring the life and legacy of the late actor.