Allen Hughes and Tupac Shakur

Filmmaker Allen Hughes delivered a powerful look at Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine with The Defiant Ones. Two years removed from that HBO docuseries, Hughes has now lined up his next project, and it’s another deep dive into one of hip-hop’s most important figures: Tupac Shakur.

Deadline reports that this is the first such project to have the full cooperation of the Shakur Estate, which has granted Hughes access to everything in Tupac’s vault, including unreleased recordings, writings, and poetry. The plan is to use all that material to create a five-part documentary series that takes a revealing look at the late MC’s prolific but tragically short career.



Tupac, of course, was assassinated in Las Vegas in 1996 when he was only 25. Despite his relatively short time in the spotlight, he released four full-length albums and appeared in seven films.

Hughes will direct the as-yet-untitled series, with Lasse Järvi and Charles D. King serving as executive producers. Interscope Films and MACRO will produce. There’s currently no word on where the project might end up, but HBO is almost sure to be circling after The Defiant Ones won a Grammy and was nominated for five Emmys.