Jonás Cuarón, co-writer of Gravity and son of director Alfonso Cuarón, has announced plans to adapt Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s book Undocumented America for a potential TV series.
Undocumented America is described as “a portrait of the undocumented experience, weaving together diverse stories of immigrants across the country.” The book comes hot on the heels of an essay Cornejo Villavicencio wrote on Election Day for The New York Times discussing voting and undocumented immigrants. Rights to the manuscript were quickly snapped up from there.
There is an air of life imitating art to the story. Cornejo Villavicenicio was born in Ecuador and lives in the U.S. under the protection of DACA. She went on to be the first undocumented immigrant admitted to Harvard’s undergraduate and Yale’s Ph.D. programs. It is unclear how President Trump’s decision to rescind DACA will impact Cornejo Villavicencio’s life in the United States.
Mexican-born Cuarón himself is no stranger to immigration stories. His 2015 film Desierto follows a group of people attempting to cross into the United States via the Mexican border.
This is one of several series about undocumented communities being developed for television. Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez recently revealed she’s working to produce two shows about the undocumented experience, including one based on the life of Rafael Agustin.