The first full length trailer has arrived for Barry Jenkins’ (Moonlight) upcoming Amazon Prime Video series, The Underground Railroad, via Entertainment Weekly. A dreamlike and thrilling look inside the gorgeously shot limited series, it’s adapted from the Pulitzer Prize winning-novel under the same name written by Colson Whitehead (The Nickel Boys).
The Underground Railroad has been a long time coming, as Jenkins has released various one minute teaser trailers for the past several months in anticipation of the series premiere in May. Written by Whitehead in 2017, the story follows Cora, a slave coming into her own in the antebellum south. As Cora hears rumors about the existence of The Underground Railroad, she decides to seek freedom and runs away, kickstarting a long and grueling journey. As she flees her Georgia plantation, a dangerous Bounty Hunter named Ridgeway begins to track her down, hellbent on capturing her and bringing her back home. It’s personal for him, as the only slave he was never able to catch was Cora’s mother years before.
Thuso Mbedu (Generations: The Legacy) stars as Cora. Chase W. Wilson (The First Wives Club) co-stars as Homer and Aaron Pierre (Kypton) portrays Caesar. With the full length trailer’s debut comes the first look at various actors in character, including Joel Edgerton (Boy Erased) as the evil and obsessed Ridgeway. Lily Rabe (American Horror Story) also appears for a brief moment as Ethel Wells, along with William Jackson Harper (The Good Place) as Royal and Will Poulter (We’re the Millers) as Sam.
With a large ensemble cast, The Underground Railroad also features Sheila Atim (The Pale Horse), Amber Gray (Hadestown), Peter De Jersey (The Bill), Chukwudi Iwuji (News of the World), Peter Mullan (Top of the Lake), and Irone Singleton (The Walking Dead).
Premiering on Amazon Prime May 14, Jenkins directed all ten episodes of the series. He shared the trailer on his Twitter, writing, “May 14. The last four years of my life…is yours.” Jenkins is an Academy-Award winner, having directed and produced the 2016 Best Picture winner Moonlight. He’s also directed the critically acclaimed 2018 film If Beale Street Could Talk.
Jenkins serves as an executive producer alongside Whitehead, Adele Romanski (Moonlight), Dede Gardner (Moonlgiht), Mark Ceryak (Never Rarely Sometimes Always), Sara Murphy (If Beale Street Could Talk), Jeremy Kleiner (12 Years a Slave), Sarah Esberg (Beautiful Boy), Richard Heus (The Man in the High Castle), and Jackie Hoyt (The Leftovers).
Watch the trailer for The Underground Railroad below: