Roots Event Series Gets Memorial Day Premiere Date

History's Roots remake will premiere on Memorial Day, the network announced Thursday. The eight-hour event series will begin May 30 at 9/8c, simulcast on History, A&E and Lifetime, and will continue over four consecutive nights.

Roots, based on Alex Haley's 1976 book of the same name, begins with Haley's ancestor Kunta Kinte's enslavement in Gambia in 1767. The story chronicles Kunta Kinte's capture and journey to America and, eventually, his descendants' liberation.

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"Nearly 40 years ago I had the privilege to be a part of an epic television event that started an important conversation in America," LeVar Burton, who played Kunta Kinte in the 1977 miniseries and serves as co-executive producer on the remake, said in a statement. "I am incredibly proud to be a part of this new retelling and start the dialogue again, at a time when it is needed more than ever."

Malachi Kirby takes over the starring role from Burton and is supported by an A-list cast that includes Forest Whitaker, Anna Paquin, Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Laurence Fishburne.

Check out the first trailer for Roots below.