The Feel-Good Story of Jamal Hinton and Wanda Dench’s Thanksgiving Is Coming to Netflix

I am very excited to announce our new partnership with Netflix. We thank every single one of you for your love and support in our journey the last 6 years. We can’t wait to tell our story on the big screen! 🎥🍾 pic.twitter.com/0heCmEWMDM

— Jamal Hinton (@Jamalhinton12) December 2, 2021

Back in 2019, grandmother Wanda Dench texted her “grandson” telling him to come to Thanksgiving dinner at 3 p.m sharp. However, the person on the other line wasn’t her grandson, but seventeen-year-old Jamal Hinton. In true Black excellence fashion, after an exchange of selfies, Hinton said, “You not my grandma. Can I still get a place though?”

To which Dench responded: “Of course you can. That’s what grandma’s do … feed every one.” What has come from that is one of everyone’s favorite Thanksgiving feel-good stories.

Since then, every year Hinton spends Thanksgiving at Dench’s, and now that story has gotten the attention of Netflix, because it is the perfect feel-good movie and we deserve nice things.

The story has slowly escalated in popularity over the years, because it is one of the few wholesome stories one could look forward to each year.

2016, 2017…… 2018 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/0ZNA54uGAS

— Jamal Hinton (@Jamalhinton12) November 23, 2018

Hinton told TIME back in 2018 that it felt weird at first to be invited to Thanksgiving by a stranger, but he decided to go after meeting Dench in person before the holiday meal. Good job, do your research. “What made me want to go was that I went and actually met her and she was pretty nice. So I decided that I’d just go and enjoy the time with her,” he says. “It turned out to be a great thing.”

As for the food itself, Hinton said, “She’s a great cook and she’s a great person to just hang out with,” with her top dishes being her green bean casserole and the turkey.

And he gets to eat at 3PM. Listen, as a Black woman, that is like a phenomenon. Good for him.

When Wanda’s husband, Lonnie, died of the coronavirus in April, it made headlines around the country because it put another human face to the death toll of the virus.

Now the story of this strangely blended family is going to be brought to life in a new way, and that’s exciting. Get that feel-good money!

(image: Screenshot)

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