What’s Next for Viola Davis Now That ‘HTGAWM’ Is Over?

From 2014 to 2020, Viola Davis portrayed the internally conflicted, courageous, sometimes deceitful, often one-step-ahead, Annalise Keating in How to Get Away with Murder. Her character was complex, her emotional turmoil palpable, her love for those she cares about always lingering, subsisting beneath a sternness — a sternness that every so often cracked wide open. 

While playing Annalise Keating, Viola Davis took home a Primetime Emmy, yet she was nominated for the Emmy four times, as well as for the Golden Globe twice. In short, the character was a powerhouse — and Davis’ performance was a force to be reckoned with. Yet, now that the finale has come and gone, what’s next for Davis? What does Davis have on her agenda? In short, it looks like she’s going to be keeping busy. Let’s go through some of her upcoming projects. 

Viola Davis will appear in ‘First Ladies’ as Michelle Obama 

What an honor it must be to stand in Davis’ shoes at this moment, knowing she will appear on the small-screen as First Lady Michelle Obama. The show will trace the personal and political lives of iconic first ladies throughout history. Imagining a better choice for the role…impossible. 

Viola Davis will also return to ‘The Suicide Squad’

Though the first round of The Suicide Squad wasn’t exactly a critical success, it performed well enough at the box office to receive a second installment. And, Viola Davis is set to return, reprising her role as Amanda Waller: a woman willing to take extraordinary measures to solve a problem…even if some of those measures are a little unorthodox in the crime-fighting world. 

Davis is going to play Harriet Tubman 

Though Cynthia Erivo recently portrayed Harriet Tubman, it looks like Viola Davis will be stepping up to the plate as well. However, the movie has only recently been announced, and it has yet to enter pre-production. Thus, fans will have to wait quite some time for what’s destined to be an Oscar-worthy performance from Davis. 

Viola Davis will soon appear in ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom will follow Viola Davis as Ma Rainey: the woman deemed the “Mother of the Blues” who makes a record in a Chicago studio in 1927. Tensions soon boil between Ma Rainey, her white agent and producer, and her bandmates. The film is currently in post-production, and it should premiere later this year. 

Davis is set to appear in an untitled Nora Fingscheidt project with Sandra Bullock 

Viola Davis will appear alongside Sandra Bullock in a film about Ruth Slater — a woman who is released from prison after serving a sentence for a violent crime. The problem: she may be free, but how can she live in a society that refuses to forgive her past. Bullock will portray Slater; Davis’ role in the upcoming film remains unconfirmed.

Quite the star-studded cast is on board, as Vincent D’Onofrio and Jon Bernthal are also set to appear. Here’s to hoping for an impeccable narrative to match the strong ensemble.