Kenya Barris, Malcolm Gladwell Team for Audible Interview Series (Exclusive)

Kenya Barris and Malcolm Gladwell are joining forces.

At the top of the year, the duo will launch a new interview series via Audible, which they’ve titled The Unusual Suspects With Kenya Barris and Malcolm Gladwell. The plan is to offer listeners unprecedented access to the minds of some of the world’s most successful people, focusing on their unique and often distinct paths to that success. It’s set to premiere Jan. 30 and promises to feature figures from a mix of fields, from entertainment and sports to business and politics.

As The Hollywood Reporter can exclusively reveal, the current lineup includes WNBA legend Sue Bird, writer-director Ava DuVernay, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and chef/Momofuku founder David Chang along with Ursula Burns, former Xerox CEO and the first Black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company, and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, the state’s first Black governor. The interviews are being billed as both in-depth and unfiltered.

“The Unusual Suspects is about peeling back the layers and getting to the heart of what drives the most influential figures of our time,” says Barris, who is producing the series through his Khalabo Ink Society. “Malcolm and I wanted to create a space where these icons could share the raw, unfiltered stories behind their success — the moments of doubt, resilience and triumph that often go unheard. It’s a journey that goes beyond the surface to reveal the human side of greatness.”

The series is born out of an exclusive multi-project development deal that Barris and Khalabo made with the audio giant back in 2021. At the time, the goal was to generate a prolific slate, featuring scripted fiction and unscripted nonfiction as well as documentaries and talk series. And while there hasn’t been the “minimum of four audio series a year for three years” that Barris once teased, Unusual Suspects isn’t his first foray either. DJ Drama’s Gangsta Grillz Podcast, which featured conversations with notable artists such as Tyler, the Creator, Pharrell, Wiz Khalifa and Lil Wayne, kicked off the partnership in 2023. (Khalabo Ink Society, which Barris has described as “a full-service creative collective,” is also responsible for a growing suite of TV and film projects, including BET+’s Diarra From Detroit and Netflix’s The Vince Staples Show.)

“Kenya and I have relished this opportunity to delve into the minds of truly extraordinary individuals. Their stories offer an unvarnished look at the nature of achievement,” notes Gladwell, who himself is no stranger to Audible. In fact, his audio library includes several of his books — The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers and What the Dog Saw — along with his podcast, Revisionist History. Gladwell adds of the new entry: “Rather than rehashing well-known success narratives, these discussions illuminate how universal qualities — persistence, adaptability and even serendipity — can profoundly shape our individual journeys.”

The premiere episode centers on Burns, who shares her journey from a New York City house project to the top of corporate America, while episode two focuses on Kimmel, who discusses his early career struggles and the personal experiences that’ve inspired him to be more publicly vulnerable. Bird goes third and opens up about the evolution of women’s sports as well as her own career, and Moore, who fronts No. 4, discusses his path from a challenging childhood to become a Rhodes Scholar, Army officer, author and, ultimately, governor. Chang and DuVernay round out the guest roster with intimate conversations about their respective trajectories, which leaves the final episode to focus on its hosts. Gladwell and Barris use the platform to share their own paths and when and where those paths intersected.