‘Moors’: Swords & Sandals Drama About Conquest Of Sicily In The Works With Roel Reiné, Chaz Hawkins & Damien Douglas

EXCLUSIVE: A new feature film chronicling the Moorish conquest of Sicily is in development with director Roel Reiné (Halo), writer Chaz Hawkins (Fallout) and producer Damien Douglas (Dance Flick).

The movie is set to follow “an eager young warrior named Tariq in 827 A.D. as he and a tight-knit band of Black soldiers are lured into war by a beguiling, exiled general looking to settle a score against the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. To defeat the Romans, Tariq and his friends must sacrifice themselves to change the face of Europe, forevermore bringing a new culture to the continent and beginning two centuries of Moorish rule in Sicily.”

Roel Reiné, whose credits include series Halo and Black Sails and movies Classified and Hard Target 2, is attached to direct from a script by writer Chaz Hawkins, based on an original story by Damien Douglas.

Douglas, who has spent almost two decades working on the project, said: “With Moors, we’re not just making a film—we’re opening the gates to a world that audiences have never been invited into at this scale. This is a sweeping, mythic, sword and sandals epic where Black heroes stand at the center of their own legend, not on the margins of someone else’s story. Our goal is to build a franchise that opens a window to a historic time that will embrace imagination, honor history, embrace imagination, and give a new generation of viewers characters who look like them leading the charge. We’re aiming for something bold, cinematic, and long overdue.”

Douglas will produce under his Movies By Misfits banner, alongside Hawkins and Matt Macur (The Dutchman). Douglas is also overseeing casting for Moors, with principal photography eyed for the third quarter of 2026 in Sicily and Tunisia.

Douglas’ credits as a producer include the Wayans brothers’ Paramount pic Dance Flick and drama Days Of Wrath with Laurence Fishburne, while more recent features include To Get Her, War Dawgs, and Lunar Lockdown.