Oprah Winfrey Network Canada Debuts New Drama Series

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network (Canada) announced that the highly anticipated series Greenleaf, executive produced by Oprah Winfrey will launch with a two-night premiere onTuesday, June 21, followed by two all-new back-to-back episodes on Wednesday, June 22. The Lionsgate drama will air day-and-date with the U.S. Featuring Oprah Winfrey’s first recurring scripted television role in two decades, the family drama is set against the backdrop of a sprawling Memphis megachurch and the family who runs it. After the two-night premiere, the 13-episode series will air in its regular timeslot on Wednesdays.

From award-winning writer/producer Craig Wright (Lost, Six Feet Under, Brothers and Sisters), Greenleaf takes viewers into the unscrupulous world of the Greenleaf’s and their family-built church, where scandalous secrets and lies are as numerous as the faithful.  Beneath the Greenleaf family’s loving exterior lies a den of iniquity — greed, adultery, sibling rivalry, and conflicting values — that threaten to tear apart the very core of their faith that holds them together.

The series centers on the journey of the Greenleafs’ estranged daughter and disillusioned preacher Grace (Merle Dandridge, The Night Shift) who has returned home after 20 years on the occasion of the mysterious death of her sister, Faith.  As she reenters the world of Calvary Fellowship World Ministries, the Memphis megachurch run by her powerful parents Bishop James Greenleaf (Keith David, Enlisted, Community) and Lady Mae Greenleaf (Lynn Whitfield, The Josephine Baker Story), it becomes evident that things are not as virtuous as they seem and that the family’s outward display of faith hides sin and misdeeds.

Oprah Winfrey Network (Canada) will be offered as a national Free Preview, including On Demand service, this June with participating broadcasters. Greenleaf episodes will be available On Demand following their premiere.