Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins took to Twitter to reveal the first teaser for his upcoming historical fiction miniseries titled The Underground Railroad which will feature an alternate timeline of the real-life titular underground network of secret routes and safe houses that was created in the mid-19 century that was used by enslaved African-Americans to escape to free states. The long-in development project has no release date yet but it is expected to debut on Amazon Prime. Check out the video below!
We the People…
https://t.co/tgkrs7ULMa— Barry Jenkins (@BarryJenkins) October 19, 2020
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Based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name, The Underground Railroad follows Cora, a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia who is an outcast even amongst her fellow Africans and is struggling coming into womanhood when she meets Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia who informs her of the Underground Railroad, inspiring them both to take the risk and escape to freedom.
The 11-episode limited series will chronicle Cora’s journey as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. After escaping her Georgia plantation for the rumored Underground Railroad, Cora discovers no mere metaphor, but an actual railroad full of engineers and conductors, and a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the southern soil.
Pick up a copy of the novel here!
The series will star Thuso Mbedu, Chase W. Dillon, Aaron Pierre and Joel Edgerton. It will also feature Damon Herriman, William Jackson Harper, Amber Gray, Jim Klock, Lily Rabe, Fred Hechinger, and Owen Harn.
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The Underground Railroad is created and directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk). The limited series is also executive produced by Jenkins through his Pastel Productions alongside Oscar winner Brad Pitt through his Plan B Entertainment banner. Adele Romanski, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner are also set as executive producers.
