It’s hard to believe it’s been five years since Arizona woman Wanda Dench texted a complete stranger, Jamal Hinton, to join her for Thanksgiving dinner — sparking a lifetime of friendship.
Now, Netflix plans to turn the heartwarming story into a full-length feature, “The Thanksgiving Text,” recounting the events that led to their now-annual holiday reunion, Variety reported.
Dench, now 64, was trying to get in touch with her grandson when instead she accidentally got through to Hinton, a high school senior at the time, now 22, who joked, “You not my grandma. Can I still get a plate tho?” As the matriarch is wont to do, she replied, “Of course you can. That’s what grandmas do … feed everyone.”
In the spirit of the holiday, the misfired text in 2016 would launch a Thanksgiving dinner tradition in their hometown, Mesa, that has continued to this day — and as their viral fame endures. They’ve also generously shared images and videos of their regular meetings, re-igniting social media with each passing year.
In 2019, they created a video of one of their biggest family gatherings yet, including extended members of both families and their friends. In it, Dench is seen giving Hinton a sentimental scrapbook of their unlikely friendship.
“We’ve become really good friends,” Hinton told The Post that year. “Unfortunately, our schedules don’t usually line up too well and we live an hour and a half apart, but we have managed to have a couple dinners at her house and restaurants.”
Dench said at the time that her hospitality came from her upbringing as a military brat. “We moved around a lot, so strangers were not strangers to me,” she said in a YouTube Q&A, and explained that it was common for her family to take in neighbors on the base who had no family nearby. “It was a normal thing for us.”
She added, “Family is more than blood. It’s the people that you want to be with and that you just feel good with.”
Last year, Dench lost her husband, Lonnie, to COVID-19 — and Hinton was there with Wanda every step of the way, even sharing the heartbreaking news on her behalf on social media.
Netflix has tapped “The Bobby Brown Story” writer Abdul Williams for the “The Thanksgiving Text,” as well as producers Robert Teitel and George Tillman, Jr, best known for “The Barbershop Franchise,” and Lawrence Mott of “The Hate U Give.” A director and various cast members have not yet been placed.
Hinton shared the news of their movie deal with his 132,000 Twitter followers on Thursday.
“I am very excited to announce our new partnership with Netflix,” he wrote. “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!”
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