Ava DuVernay recently sat down with People to discuss her upcoming (and first!) television show Queen Sugar, which will be premiering on OWN (the Oprah Winfrey Network) later this year.

The Selma director wrote, co-directed and produced the total of 13 episodes to air–and what’s more, we already knew based on previous interviews that the series would only be directed by women–a first for any series, limited or otherwise, since female directors are still fighting to make up dominant numbers within the course of any season of a TV show. (In recent years, women directors have only made up between 14 and 15% of episodes airing on primetime television.)

DuVernay is hoping that Queen Sugar will be just the first of many opportunities where women take the lead on TV projects:

Every single episode is directed by a woman. It isn’t something that we see hardly enough. If Game of Thrones can have all men for the last 3 seasons, Queen Sugar can have all women and show what a fantastic show can be made from our hands and our minds.

There you have it: proof that not only is it possible to incorporate more female directors, it doesn’t have to be that hard. Queen Sugar, which stars True Blood‘s Rutina Wesley, premieres on OWN on September 6 and 7.

(via People)

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