‘We Need To Talk About Cosby’: Showtime Sets W. Kamau Bell’s Sundance Docuseries & Unveils Trailer

W. Kamau Bell’s docuseries We Need To Talk About Cosby was one of the most high-profile non-fiction titles announced for the 2022 Sundance Film Festival.

Showtime has now revealed that the four-part series, directed by the United Shades of America star, will premiere on January 30, a week after its January 22 debut at the festival. The network has also unveiled a trailer for the series.

Bell is directing the series, which offers an in-depth look at the revolutionary career and personal descent of Bill Cosby. It will explore Cosby’s life and work, weighing his actions against his indisputable global influence through interviews with comedians, cultural commentators, journalists and women who share their most personal, harrowing encounters with Cosby.

It will also feature archival footage and shed new light on Cosby’s cultural contributions and impact at the height of his disgrace – accused of rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, sexual battery and other misconduct by more than 60 women as far back as nearly 60 years.

Bell, who grew up idolizing Cosby, unpacks how Cosby’s desire for power, which propelled his professional success, could be the same driving force that motivated his alleged crimes against women.

We Need To Talk About Cosby is produced by Boardwalk Pictures in association with WKB Industries. Exec producers include Bell, Andrew Fried, Katie A. King, Dane Lillegard, Jordan Wynn and Sarina Roma. King serves as showrunner.

“As a child of Bill Cosby, I was a huge fan of all his shows and wanted to be a comedian because of him,” said Bell. “I never thought I’d ever wrestle with who we all thought Cosby was and who we now understand him to be. I’m not sure he would want me to do this work, but Cliff Huxtable definitely would.”

“Kamau has bravely ventured into a very complicated and nuanced area of the Bill Cosby story, which has yet to be explored in this depth. It’s an important and under-reported perspective on the legacy of one of history’s most iconic African American entertainers,” added Vinnie Malhotra, EVP, Nonfiction Programming, Showtime Networks.