“Underground”: New TV series explores black resistance in slave-era America
Underground is harrowing and compelling new 10 episode TV show centered on a group of slaves planning a daring all-or-nothing 600-mile escape from a Georgia plantation. It premieres on March 9th on WGN America.
The journey and escape of thousands of slaves to free states and Canada in the 19th century is one of the most fascinating and defiant parts of American history but one that has received little attention on television or in movies.
The relationships and the agendas of the series’ slave characters, the people who claim ownership and domain over them, the hunters who seek to snare them and the abolitionists who fight to help them find freedom form a complex and intriguing mosaic in this new TV epic.
Why this might actually work:
1. It was created, written and co-produced by a black woman
Misha Green is a writer and producer who has worked on shows including Sons of Anarchy and Heroes.
“One day my sister said to me, ‘You should do a show about the Underground Railroad.’ I liked the idea. I immediately knew the title would be the ‘Underground.’ I knew I wanted it to be epic and big. So I went to Joe Polaski, the co–creator of Underground. We had a great history.
We decided to see it from all perspectives: from the slaves running to those left behind on the plantation, to the slave catchers going after them to those helping along the way. The more we researched, we found truth is stranger than fiction. We knew it was the right time for a television series”
2. It’s not another tragic slave era story exploiting black pain for dramatic effect
Misha Green: “It’s not about the occupation; it’s about the revolution. This is a story that has not been told before. We have a little paragraph in some history books about this time period. But this is an inspiring story that shows what can be accomplished when we stick together. It shows how people traveled 600 miles with people hunting them every step to get to freedom. It shows the ingenuity they used.“
Aldis Hodge, the shows lead protagonist said “to be called a slave is to be called a thing. It’s like being cattle or a machine. We depicted it from the viewpoint that these people are enslaved Americans, and we celebrate their strengths.”
3. It gives a deeper look into the slave resistance than ever before
Unlike many slave dramas that have gone before, this is not a sepia-tinted period drama or a revisionist fantasy. Underground explores the social, moral, and political complexities of this period. It gives viewers a historically accurate glimpse of how the clandestine system of the Underground Railroad operated.
“The Underground Railroad is one sentence – one paragraph – in history books, and they sum it up to one person, the amazing legend of Harriet Tubman,” says Smollett-Bell who plays Rosalee, a shy but internally strong house slave. “But there were thousands of people who risked their lives and who were actively changing our nation.”
Actor Alano Miller who plays Cato said “At first, when it was pitched to me, it was ‘slave drama,’ and that made me cringe. But then I read the script and the humanity; it was about the revolution. The writing was just so excellent; it had so much depth to it and it wasn’t one-dimensional.”
As well as being executive produced by John Legend, Underground stars True Blood’s Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Straight Outta Compton’s Aldis Hodge, Jane The Virgin’s Alano Miller, Arrow’s Jessica de Gouw, Law & Order: SVU alum Christopher Meloni, Amirah Vann and Justified’s Mykelti Williamson, among others. Empire’s Jussie Smollett and Treme’s Renwick Scott also guest star.
5. The soundtrack’s gunna be great
John Legend is the show’s music producer, so you know it’s going to be good. The moody R&B and blues rock soundtrack to Underground “emphasizes the struggles of the South in this tumultuous time.“
Underground premieres on March 9th on WGN America.
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