By Chris Evangelista/Oct. 19, 2020 11:00 am EST
The Underground Railroad Teaser
I was already all-in on The Underground Railroad. I have yet to read Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, but I’m already interested in everything and anything Barry Jenkins does. However, if I was still uncertain about the series, this teaser would’ve convinced me. It’s such a unique approach – there’s no real “footage” per se – or rather, I doubt the footage here is actually a scene from the show. Instead, it’s Jenkins setting the mood – the teaser is labeled a “Preamble” – complete with a gorgeous new score from Nicholas Britell.
In The Underground Railroad, “Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape.”
And in the world of the book and now show, “The Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor—engineers and conductors operate a network of tracks and tunnels constructed in secret beneath the very Southern soil upon which they’ve been enslaved. Cora and Caesar’s first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city’s placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, a relentless slave catcher of mythic origin, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state-by-state, seeking true freedom in a heroine’s journey carved through the soil and soul of America.”
There’s no premiere date set yet, but I’m guessing we’ll see The Underground Railroad before the end of the year.
