All Jamaican cast and crew for “Daughters of the Dancehall Queen”

Durrant Pate/Contributor

A new Jamaican television series building on the creative legacy of the iconic local film, Dancehall Queen goes into production next month.

Daughters of the Dancehall Queen, is an eight-episode Jamaican television series written and produced by Ed Wallace and produced for screen by YAADBridge Entertainment, will begin principal photography in Jamaica on October 11, 2026. The series is rated PG-13 and the production will feature an entirely Jamaican cast and crew, placing local actors, filmmakers, technicians and other creative practitioners at the heart of the series.

The series title recalls the groundbreaking Jamaican film, Dancehall Queen, released in 1997 and starring Audrey Reid as Marcia, a struggling Kingston street vendor whose transformation into a dancehall queen changes the course of her life. Wallace, one of the writers of the original film, through Daughters of the Dancehall Queen, is returning to the world of Jamaican television with a new story rooted in family, womanhood, music and contemporary Jamaican life.

Not a remake of Dancehall Queen 

Daughters of the Dancehall Queen is not a remake of Dancehall Queen with this latest production coming almost three decades after Dancehall Queen became one of Jamaica’s most recognisable screen stories. The television series draws upon the cultural world and legacy that helped make the film memorable while telling a contemporary story for a new generation.

At its heart, the series explores mothers and daughters, family relationships, ambition, identity, choices and the continuing influence of dancehall within Jamaican life and culture. For Wallace, “Daughters of the Dancehall Queen has been more than twenty years in the making. After the success of Dancehall Queen, which I created and co-wrote, I initially considered a sequel. Over time, that idea evolved into a television series following the lives of the two daughters. The project sat with me for years, but the time has come.“

Continuing, Wallace said an excellent Jamaican team have been assembled “to tell a family story that we believe can connect with audiences both locally and internationally.” For YAADBridge Entertainment, producing the series with a local cast and crew is integral to the company’s approach to building sustainable Jamaican screen production.

The production is expected to engage Jamaican professionals across acting, production management, directing, cinematography, camera, lighting, grip, sound, art, wardrobe, hair and makeup, locations, transportation, catering, production support and other departments.

Producer and Executive Producer at YAADBridge Entertainment, Sherando Ferril explains, “for us, this is about more than producing eight episodes of television. Every Jamaican production creates another opportunity for our actors, technicians, writers and filmmakers to work, earn, strengthen their credits and continue building careers here at home. If we want a sustainable Jamaican film and television industry, then we have to keep Jamaican productions moving from development into actual production.”  

She was insistent, “we aren’t trying to recreate what that film (Dancehall Queen)was. We are acknowledging its legacy while allowing a completely new generation of women, characters and Jamaican creatives to tell their own story.”