Some guys get a head start in life and still manage to screw it all up. That was the case for Jimmy Keene, a high school football star and the son of a respected policeman. Instead of capitalizing on what he already had, Keene became a drug dealer before he was caught and sentenced to ten years in prison. Apple TV+‘s new miniseries, Black Bird, is based upon the true story of Keene, and the deal he was offered to escape his sentence. In order to earn his freedom, Keene had to convince a serial killer to give up his secrets and confess.
Within the new trailer for Black Bird, Keene is portrayed by Taron Egerton, while the late Ray Liotta plays his father, James “Big Jim” Keene. It’s the elder Keene’s influence that helps his son get the deal of a lifetime. In exchange for getting the confession of Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser), Keene will once again be a free man. But as seen in the trailer below, that’s much easier said than done.
Going undercover at a maximum-security prison for the criminally insane is dangerous enough. If the inmates find out that Keene is a rat, he won’t make it out alive. There’s also danger from Hall himself, and he seems to suspect Keene’s motives from the start. And if the pressure wasn’t high enough already, Keene only has a limited time to get the information out of Hall before the killer’s lawyers mount what could be a successful appeal.
Black Bird is based upon Keene’s true-crime novel, In with the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption, which was co-written by Hillel Levin. Dennis Lehane developed the miniseries for television. The first two episodes will premiere on Apple TV+ on Friday, July 8.
