‘Hidden Figures’ Series in Development at National Geographic

National Geographic is bringing Hidden Figures to the small screen.

The project, which is in early stages of development, will be executive produced by Peter Chernin and Jenna Topping of Chernin Entertainment, both of whom elective produced the film. Nat Geo will also produce.

The film was itself based on the book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly, which told the true story of the black female mathematicians who were instrumental in the early days of the American space program. The 2016 film starred Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst and Jim Parsons.

The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but was famously snubbed of a Best Actress nomination for Henson.

Variety reports that should the project go to series, it would be the latest in the network's continuing push into scripted series.

The cable network is about to debut a second season of the series, Genius on April 24. The first season, which was nominated for 10 Emmys, starred Geoffrey Rush as Albert Einstein, while season two will star Antonio Banderas as Pablo Picasso.

Nat Geo also debuted the Iraq War miniseries, The Long Road Home back in November.

On the development side, Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to executive produce a series based on The Right Stuff, also about the early days of the space program, that is currently in the works at Nat Geo.

Other scripted dramas in development include: The Birth of the Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution, adapted from Jonathan Eig's 2014 book of the same name; The Hot Zone, based on the international bestseller by Richard Preston about the origins of the Ebola virus; and a scripted series based on the founding of the National Geographic Network itself, telling the story of how a National Geographic field producer is put in charge of two production teams shooting Nat Geo's first TV documentaries in Siberia and Australia in the 1960s.