The series, based on Colson Whitehead’s 2016 Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, reimagines the Underground Railroad as an actual railroad with engineers, conductors, train tracks, and underground tunnels. Cora’s journey to freedom isn’t without complications. She’s being followed by Ridgeway (Joel Edgerton), a bounty hunter obsessed with forcing her back to the Georgia plantation she escaped from. Ridgeway is fixated with capturing Cora in part because her mother was the only person he never caught. Along the way, Cora contends with following her mother’s legacy, and stepping into a life that she didn’t know was possible.
The ensemble cast of “The Underground Railroad” includes Chase W. Dillon, Aaron Pierre, William Jackson Harper, Sheila Atim, Amber Gray, Peter De Jersey, Chukwudi Iwuji, Damon Herriman, Lily Rabe, Irone Singleton, Mychal-Bella Bowman, Marcus “MJ” Gladney, Jr., Will Poulter, and Peter Mullan. In April, Jenkins opened up about shooting the emotional series, which was briefly delayed last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. “It’s the toughest thing I’ve ever done, not because it was difficult to make physically, but just emotionally,” he said. “I’ve never cried on set, with anything I’ve made. On this one, at least once every two weeks somebody would be like ‘you alright man?’ I would have to walk… off the set for 10 or 15 minutes because I was just distraught. Our guidance counselor pulled me off set one day and would not let me continue to direct.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
