The team that brought a 2008 feature film about slain gay civil rights hero Harvey Milk to the screen is reuniting for a gay rights miniseries to air on ABC.

The network on Monday (21 December) officially greenlit When We Rise, an eight-hour miniseries written by Dustin lance Black who won the Academy Award for his screenplay for Milk.

Gus Van Sant, Oscar nominated for directing Milk, will direct the first two-hpur episode and Milk producer Bruce Cohen is on board to executive produce the miniseries with Black.

The miniseries tells the history of the gay rights movement beginning with the 1969 Stonewall Riots through its successes today.

Black, who is engaged to British Olympic diver Tom Daley, has mixed his work in films with political activism. He was one of the founders of the American Foundation for Equal Rights which filed the lawsuit that eventually led to the US Supreme Court overturning California’s Proposition 8.

In addition to winning an Oscar for Milk, Black’s credits include HBO’s Big Love, the Clint Eastwood directed J. Edgar and 8, the 2011 play re-enacting the closing arguments in the federal trial that led to the overturning of California’s Proposition 8.

H/T: Deadline Hollywood