In Hulu’s brand-new action-packed series “Washington Black,” freedom isn’t the end goal for the eponymous main character who was born into enslavement in Barbados—it’s just the beginning of his story.
The series, starring Sterling K. Brown, Ernest Kingsley Junior, Eddie Karanja, Iola Evans, and Edward Bluemel—and adapted from a novel by Canadian writer Esi Edugyan, of the same name—tells the fictional tale of a boy set in the mid-1800s who is plucked from slavery and set on an adventure spanning Barbados to Nova Scotia, the last stop on the Underground Railroad.
“I was drawn to the story because it has a message of finding hope in darkness and finding light out of trauma and resistance,” series showrunner and producer Selwyn Seyfu Hinds told theGrio during an interview before the release.
Meanwhile, Kimberly Ann Harrison, also a showrunner and producer on the series, said, “I had never seen a story told through the lens of a young boy like this, in this way, and not living in trauma but in discovery.”
Through airships, run-ins with pirates, and daring ocean crossings, “Washington Black” charts a radical journey not just away from slavery, but toward the infinite possibilities of who a Black boy might become. In a cultural landscape often fixated on trauma in Black period pieces, the series offers a tender and expansive view of Black life that is inventive, adventurous, romantic at times, and deeply human.
“There’s no story like this,” Karanja, who stars as the Young George Washington “Wash” Black in the mini series, told theGrio. “The lens in which this is told from, from this young boy and this journey, this worldwide journey, is unlike anything I’ve ever read or seen.”
He added that he hopes viewers, particularly Black teens and children, see how “remarkable” Wash’s story is.
“[Young Wash] is in the era still shown in a powerful light, in an intelligent light, and in a beautiful light,” he said.
Even though the show has high-flying fantasy aspects and wide-sweeping adventures, it also nurses a healthy dose of reality. The characters are on an enduring quest for identity and authenticity. Kingsley, who stars as Wash Black, said many characters in the show lead “double lives” to be their true selves. They are constantly navigating the question of who they would be “if there was no kind of restriction,” he said, “as opposed to who the world says they should be.”
“There is that tension,” he expressed. “You see Wash take the leap of faith to be who he wants to be, and therefore encourage those around him to do the same.”
He added, “I feel like we need more of that. I feel like there is a tendency in this world and this society for people to kind of go in a route in life that they feel they should do because the world tells them to, or people tell them to.”
Kingsley noted how he could have just as easily given into others fears about pursuing acting instead, he clearly followed his heart.
“I want people to do the same, and you see it in the show in abundance,” he said.
Another character who grapples with themes of identity is Tanna Goff (Evans), who is of mixed race and white passing at a time when Black people are striving for freedom around the world.
“One of the things which I really like about this story is it’s kind of a bit of a quest for authenticity, to find people who make you feel at home, and to people who kind of celebrate your authentic self,” Evans told theGrio.
Bluemel, who plays Billy McGee, described how Wash Black’s character has an impact on nearly everyone he encounters.
“He sort of ends up teaching so many of these characters, directly or indirectly, and I think that’s really sort of magical,” he said.
For its cast and creators, the show is also a call to protect the dreamers and honor those who dared to imagine a world beyond what they were born into. Brown, who takes on the role as a mentor in Wash’s life, Medwin Harris, noted how Wash, early on in childhood and throughout his life, is “protected” in one way or another, in large part because of his innate, unique wonder.
“There’s a certain innocence that was protected and just sort of nurtured and sort of appreciated,” he noted. “Because sometimes our childhoods get cut short. We have to grow up very fast. We have to know what it means to live in a white world, in a male-dominated world, in a hetero dominated world, in a cis gendered world, etc.”
He continued, “But like, every once in a while, there are people that come along they say, ‘You know what? No matter who has the power, no matter how the world is supposed to be shaped in order for me not to thrive or whatnot, I know what I have inside of me. I know what I have inside of me is beautiful, and I know what I have inside of me can transform the world.’”
He added, “I want us to foster and relish the dreamers within ourselves and protect the dreamers around us, because they give us permission to do the same thing.”
“Washington Black” is streaming now on Hulu and Disney+.
