Barry Jenkins to Direct Series Based on Novel “The Underground Railroad”
Variety reported on Monday that Amazon is planning a TV series, directed by Barry Jenkins, based on Colson Whitehead’s novel The Underground Railroad. The book is about an alternate version of antebellum history in which the Underground Railroad is an actual railroad with trains and conductors.
Author Colson Whitehead; image credit to the New York Review of Books
The Underground Railroad revolves around two young slaves, Cora and Caesar, who escape from their Georgia plantation and reach a town in South Carolina that isn’t what it seems. The book won the National Book Award for fiction in 2016.
Barry Jenkins, who will be directing the TV series, is best known for his 2016 film Moonlight, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, and won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay, along with Tarrel Alvin McCraney. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
The tv series will be produced by Plan B Entertainment and Pastel Productions.
What do you think of this? Are you excited for this TV series? Let us know in the comments.
Sources: Variety, Goodreads, Blackfilm.com
