Netflix's 'The Get Down' Trailer: Check Out Baz Luhrmann's Period Musical Series!

By Victoria Guerra | Jul 27, 2016 04:08 PM EDT

Baz Luhrmann, arguably the man who brought musicals back to the mainstream with 2001's Moulin Rouge, is going back to the genre, this time on a series, with Netflix's The Get Down, a '70s Bronx hip-hop musical. The show recently got its first full trailer -- and the filmmaker is obviously still very much a master in the period musical genre!

The new trailer was released last Tuesday, and it shows some of the members of the amazing cast. While the show will be centered mostly on a group of teenagers (including Hollywood royalty Jaden Smith, the son of Will and Jada), the grown-up actors include the likes of L.A. Law alum and Emmy winner Jimmy Smits and Gus Fring himself, Breaking Bad actor Giancarlo Esposito.

There's even a rising, big name straight from Broadway: recent Tony winner Daveed Diggs, who originated the roles of the Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the mega smash Hamilton, will be in charge of narrating the series.

It's been a rocky ride for The Get Down, and the Luhrmann project has actually turned into the most expensive series on Netflix history, even more than period pieces like Marco Polo. According to Variety, in the two-and-a-half years since the show landed on Netflix, it has gone through "two showrunners, numerous writers, and no small amount of strain" with its big producers, particularly on Sony Pictures Television.

The first season, set for a 12-episode run, was supposed to cost about $7.5 million per episode, and bear in mind that each episode of the second season of HBO's megahit Game of Thrones costs about $10 million. Still, production went over budget for The Get Down, and the entire season ended up costing about $120 million, even considering tax incentives shooting in New York state.

"The Get Down is a mythic saga of how New York at the brink of bankruptcy gave birth to a new art form," reads the synopsis, via NME. "Set in New York in 1977, this music-driven drama series chronicles the rise of hip-hop and the last days of disco -- told through the lives, music, art and dance of the South Bronx kids who would change the world forever."

The first season of the series is still not entirely ready, so it'll actually be released in two parts: the first six episodes will begin streaming on Netflix on Aug. 12, and the second batch of episodes is expected to air at some point mid-2017.

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