Barry Jenkins, the wunderkind behind the Oscar-winning Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk, has unveiled his first look at his limited series The Underground Railroad. It is an absolutely stunningly beautiful look at the series that is adapted from Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
The Underground Railroad stars Thuso Mbedu as Cora Randall, an African American woman living in the antebellum South whose dreams are to find freedom in the North. She manages to escape her Georgian plantation and immediately heads for the titular institution with hopes of freedom.
Whereas the original Underground Railroad was figurative, in Jenkins’ vision—it possesses real rail cars, tracks, and trains bringing people to independence and autonomy. Its sole purpose is to take those living under a life that is nowhere near their own and deliver them to a solace only before dreamed of.
The above teaser is shot in reverse and its power as such is palpable. You feel every moment of desperation, every second of urges to be free, and every single ounce of deep-seated hatred, that I might add is still alive and well today.
The Underground Railroad also will star Chase W. Dillon, Aaron Pierre, Joel Edgerton, Shila Atim, Amber Gray, William Jackson Harper, Peter De Jersey, Damon Herriman, Lily Rabe, Chukwudi Iwuji, Irone Singleton, Mychal-Bella Bowman, Marcus “MJ” Gladney, Jr., Will Poulter, and Peter Mullan.
Watch for Jenkin’s latest mesmerizing masterpiece on Amazon Prime, real soon.