Latest news with #SelwynSeyfuHinds
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Washington Black' Release Schedule: Are More Episodes on the Way?
And who all stars in the adventure-driven period drama? 'Washington Black,' Hulu's action-packed odyssey that's based on Esi Edugyan's fictional 2018 novel of the same name, has officially landed. And we have all the details about how to tune in. The limited series, which follows a young, Black inventor's journey through self-discovery, is executive produced by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, Kimberly Ann Harrison, and Sterling K. Brown. Seyfu and Harrison also serve as the series's showrunners More from TheWrap 'Washington Black' Release Schedule: Are More Episodes on the Way? 8 Major Times Dexter Broke Harry's Kill Code | Photos Larry Ellison to Hold 35.5% of Family's Voting Rights in New Paramount, National Amusements After Skydance Merger Closes David Letterman Roasts CBS, David Ellison Over Colbert Cancellation: 'Go Buy Dairy Queen or Something' | Video TheWrap previously reported the news about the show's production back in 2021. Check out the how to watch details below. When does 'Washington Black' premiere? 'Washington Black' premiered on Hulu on July 23. How many episodes are there? There are eight episodes in the 'Washington Black' miniseries, and all of them landed on Hulu when the show premiered on July 23. Are more episodes on the way? 'Washington Black' followed the binge-release model, so all episodes are now available — and it's a limited series so no new episodes are currently planned. What is 'Washington Black' about? 'Washington Black' follows the 19th-century adventures of George Washington 'Wash' Black – an 11-year-old boy on a Barbados sugar plantation who must flee after a shocking death threatens to upend his life. Brown will play the gregarious, larger-than-life Medwin Harris, who traveled the world after a traumatic childhood as a Black refugee in Nova Scotia as the de facto Mayor of Black Halifax prioritizes the community over everything except Washington Black, his young protégé. Meeting Wash sends him down a challenging path of self-discovery. And as the barricades around his heart start to fall, Medwin will learn to dream again. Who's in the cast? The series stars Ernest Kingsley Jr., Rupert Graves, Iola Evans, Edward Bluemel, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Eddie Karanja, Tom Ellis and Sterling K. Brown. Watch the trailer The post 'Washington Black' Release Schedule: Are More Episodes on the Way? appeared first on TheWrap.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
What to Know About Sterling K. Brown's ‘Washington Black': From Cast Details to Book Connections
Fans waiting for season 2 of Paradise can get their Sterling K. Brown fix with his upcoming Hulu series, Washington Black. Brown has remained booked and busy since wrapping up his time on NBC's This Is Us. He reunited with creator Dan Fogelman to work on Hulu's political thriller Paradise, which premiered in January 2025. The show received critical acclaim and was renewed one month later. Before filming Paradise, however, Brown partnered up with Selwyn Seyfu Hinds to produce a TV adaptation of Esi Edugyan's novel Washington Black. The 2019 book follows George Washington Black (Eddie Karanja and Ernest Kingsley Jr.) through past and present timelines as he is raised under the shadow of slavery before catching the attention of the sugar plantation owner's brother. A young Washington is recruited to help the owner's brother, leading to an adventure around the world. Washington in present day goes by Wash and lives in Nova Scotia, where he is taken under the wing of town leader Medwin Harris (Brown). Summer TV Preview 2025: Inside Must-Watch New and Returning Shows From 'The Bear' to 'Love Island USA' "The book is written in Wash's first person, recollective voice," Hinds told Entertainment Weekly in May 2025. "When I first read the book and started thinking about how to adapt it, the structure that I really thought about was The Canterbury Tales and this voyage of this boy who becomes a man through all these characters who affect him and who he affects." Keep scrolling for everything to know about Washington Black: Who Is Starring in 'Washington Black'? In addition to Kingsley Jr., Brown and Katanga, Washington Black stars Tom Ellis, Iola Evans, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Billy Boyd, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine and Edward Bluemel. Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Rupert Graves, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Charles Dance and Blaine Dorey make up the rest of the cast. What Is 'Washington Black' About? Based on the book of the same name, Washington Black follows an 11-year-old boy who "is forced to flee his home on a sugar plantation in Barbados after a shocking death." The boy ultimately finds a mentor who has "a traumatic childhood as a Black refugee in Nova Scotia." When Does 'Washington Black' Premiere? All eight episodes of Washington Black will be released on July 23, 2025. How Much of the Show Will Be Based on the Book? The show will have a major shift when it comes to the timeline. "If we told the story linearly, we wouldn't get to adult Wash until episode 7," Hinds told EW. "So the structure suggested itself." Showrunner Kimberly Ann Harrison broke down the decision, adding, "We wanted to show Wash's origin story because that is really important. So those two timelines of showing the boy that he was, and then, the man he grows into were really important to us." TV Shows Based on Best-Selling Books: From 'Big Little Lies' to 'The Handmaid's Tale' What Role Does Sterling K. Brown Play? "The thing about Sterling is he's not some kind of diva movie star who's like, 'Write me a gigantic role.' It was what's going to serve the story best. It took me a couple of months to really figure out that so much of this tale is about mentorship, who you mentor and who you're mentored by," Hinds shared. "I realized that we needed a counterpoint to [his mentor] Titch's relationship with Wash for the adult version of Wash. We already had that character in the book in Medwin, so from there it was just building it out." Brown balanced his starring role with being an executive producer. "He was in Video Village, he was giving notes to the actors," Harrison recalled. "I had never really encountered that — to see an actor really step into that producer role the way that he did with problem solving, budget talk. It was great to work with him as both an actor and on the producer level. What Is the Message of 'Washington Black'? "A lot of these conversations around identity, around race, around tribalism, they're always here," Hinds noted to EW. "It is just a matter of sometimes there's a piece of art that brings them up to the volume where we all hear them and are aware of them." Harrison, meanwhile, elaborated on the theme of the series. "There's who people think you're supposed to be and who, when you question your own identity, you choose to be," she noted. "We're in a place where people are starting to question and ask those questions where they might not have before." Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sterling K. Brown Reflects on Getting to Help Bring ‘Paradise' and ‘Washington Black' to Life
Sterling K. Brown is using his prolific career to help support new TV shows — including Paradise and Washington Black. "Everything happens in divine timing — exactly when it's supposed to. It may not be exactly what you are hoping for but it's always exactly what it's supposed to be," Brown, 49, noted during an exclusive interview with Us Weekly about Washington Black's release on Hulu. Brown, who plays Medwin, said he was "tremendously proud" of his latest role. "It's a beautiful story. It is told beautifully and shot beautifully. We got a chance to shoot in Iceland and in Nova Scotia and in Mexico. We got a chance to take this very melanated cast across the globe," he gushed. "And to see something with that level of expanse that has us centered [in it] gives me a tremendous amount of pride." What to Know About Sterling K. Brown's 'Washington Black': From Cast Details to Book Connections While reflecting on his recent projects, Brown acknowledged his work behind and in front of the camera, adding, "By virtue of me being an executive producer, if that helped get the story get told then I hope to help get more stories like that told." Brown has remained booked and busy since wrapping up his time on NBC's This Is Us. His most recent show, Washington Black, offered Brown a chance to partner with Selwyn Seyfu Hinds to produce a TV adaptation of Esi Edugyan's novel of the same name. The 2019 book follows George Washington Black (Eddie Karanja and Ernest Kingsley Jr.) through past and present timelines as he is raised under the shadow of slavery before catching the attention of the sugar plantation owner's brother. A young Washington is recruited to help the owner's brother, leading to an adventure around the world. Washington in present day goes by Wash and lives in Nova Scotia, where he is taken under the wing of town leader Medwin Harris (Brown). "Medwin is a small mention in the book. We definitely extrapolate it just so I could have something to do," Brown told Us of his character. "But it's interesting to see the difference in mentorship that Wash has throughout his life and him moving to place of, 'Oh, I don't need a mentor. Anything that I thought that I needed from someone else I actually have with myself.' Then it moves from mentorship to partnership. So I like to see how Medwin functions in that way and his ultimate evolution of Wash." While Washington Black was just released on Wednesday, July 23, it was in the works for some time. It was even filmed before Brown's other hit Hulu series Paradise, which reunited him with This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman. The political thriller, which premiered in January, received critical acclaim and was renewed one month later. Washington Black gave Brown a chance to elevate the stories he wants to see released. It also provided the opportunity for him to mentor several of the show's stars, who couldn't help but sing Brown's praises. Summer TV Preview 2025: Inside Must-Watch New and Returning Shows From 'The Bear' to 'Love Island USA' "First of all, I feel like I kind of dragged Sterling into being a mentor. I just kind of asked him so many questions, like, 'Hey man, how are you doing? It's 1:00 a.m. but I need your help,'" Kingsley Jr., who plays adult Wash, joked to Us. "It was natural, to be honest. It was naturally built." Kingsley Jr. pointed out how Brown "operates with vulnerability in such a powerful way," adding, "Sterling operates with a sense of power, and he encourages and incites it in you. It is this sense of, if you open up to that [kind of vulnerability yourself] then it will be held and cared for and loved. I feel like he spread that out across multiple cast members and across the crew." He continued: "Just his presence was a mentorship and getting to see him every day. It was a blessing and a gift to have him on set. Also, just to have him in my life. Now he can't get rid of me." Brown, meanwhile, attempted to play off the praise, quipping, "I paid them all. That's really the bottom line of the whole thing. I walked their dogs when they needed me to. I do special favors so they say nice things about him." Washington Black is currently streaming on Hulu. Solve the daily Crossword
CBC
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
The TV adaptation of Esi Edugyan's novel Washington Black will surprise fans of the books
Esi Edugyan says Disney Plus's take on her acclaimed historical novel Washington Black will surprise anyone familiar with the sprawling coming-of-age tale. There are significant changes to the hero and his relationships, wholly invented scenes and entirely new characters inserted by showrunners and executive producers Selwyn Seyfu Hinds and Kimberly Ann Harrison. Edugyan says she accepted early on that transforming her Giller Prize-winning saga into an eight-part streaming show would mean surrendering her hold on the story, noting she "very much took a back seat" in the process. "It's probably never a favourable thing to have the writer of the book kind of lurking in the background, looking over your shoulder, saying, 'Why have you done this and not that?'" Edugyan says in a recent video call from her home office in Victoria. "I just kind of understood that this was somebody else's art." Like the book, which was championed by Olympic swimmer Mark Tewksbury on Canada Reads 2022, the TV series recounts the fantastical life of a boy born into slavery on a Barbados sugar plantation in the 19th century. Actor Eddie Karanja plays the young hero and Ernest Kingsley Jr. portrays the older Washington Black. At age 11, Wash is taken under the wing of his master's younger abolitionist brother Titch, played by Tom Ellis, who uses the boy as ballast for an experimental flying machine but soon recognizes his aptitude for art and science. Amid this burgeoning friendship, Wash is disfigured in a trial run and then implicated in a crime, forcing him and Titch to flee the plantation. Edugyan's tale is a first-person account by an 18-year-old Wash who looks back on a lifelong search for freedom and meaning that sends him to extreme corners of the world. The Disney version is narrated by Sterling K. Brown's Medwin, a mere side character in the book who runs Wash's boarding house in Halifax. Onscreen, Medwin is a mentor to Wash and gets his own backstory and love interest, all part of what Hinds explains as "the journey of adaptation." As such, Halifax features more prominently in the Disney story, which filmed in and around the Atlantic capital, as well as in Mexico and Iceland to capture scenes set in Virginia, the Arctic, London and Morocco. Hinds says Nova Scotia was home for about six months, with shooting locations including Peggy's Cove, Lunenburg, Uniacke Estate Museum Park in Mount Uniacke and the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site in Cape Breton. He says Halifax in particular "really adopted us as a crew" as they learned the local history of Black settlements in Canada. "There was a young man who used to cut my hair in Halifax and one day we were talking — he told me his family had been there, I think, 400 years. Which for an American immigrant like myself, who's first-generation American, this was just completely mind-blowing," he says in joint a video call from Los Angeles with Harrison. "A big part of what we're doing is trying to bake ourselves in the nooks and crannies and the history of the place. And I did as best as I could to let that infuse the actual storytelling itself." Among the biggest changes is the removal of Wash's facial scars, notes Edugyan, who became the first Black woman to win the Giller in 2011 for Half-Blood Blues and only the third author to win twice when Washington Black claimed the title in 2018. In the Disney version, the scar is on Wash's chest, where it's hidden from view. "That is quite a departure from the novel," says Edugyan. "That was a very deliberate choice on my part to have that be part of how Washington confronts the world — that he's not only an enslaved person but that he also carries with him this disfigurement, which gives him this sort of double estrangement." Edugyan describes the series as "a kind of translation or interpretation of the novel" to satisfy a visual medium and the demands of episodic storytelling. Her jazz-infused Half-Blood Blues was also optioned for the screen, by Toronto's Clement Virgo, which Edugyan says is still in the works. Hinds says he regards the screen version of Washington Black as "the same house" but bigger, with an expanded world that adds a romantic rival for Wash and a deeper backstory for the white-passing love interest Tanna, born to a Black mother in the Solomon Islands. "Because the TV medium just gives you room to explore things that Esi kind of laid out that were really great opportunities — really delving into Tanna's background or really seeing what the Solomon Islands meant (to Tanna)," he says. "With any adaptation, or at least the ones that I've written, the first thing is to find the emotional DNA of the story, right? And once I realized that the story that Esi was telling about finding hope and finding agency and finding freedom, once you sort of lock into the emotional core of what the characters' journey is, everything else makes sense. Both in terms of what you keep in and what you leave out." "It's quite different from the novel," Edugyan adds. "Anybody who's familiar with the source work will be surprised. But I think it's its own piece of art and I'm looking forward to having people watch it and to hearing reactions."
The Independent
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
'Washington Black' is the show that could, just like its main character
'Washington Black' just seemed destined for a screen adaptation. The 2018 novel by Canadian writer Esi Edugyan caught actor Sterling K. Brown's eye. As he put the wheels in motion, things just started to line up in a most un-Hollywood fashion — so much so that Brown started to believe strongly the project was meant to be. 'Sometimes you keep hitting barricades and obstacles and you're like 'Well maybe I should step away.' No, things kept falling into line in such a lovely way that let me know that we were moving in the direction we were supposed to go,' he recalls. It felt appropriate that the universe wanted a coming-of-age story about a Black boy with big dreams, who goes from the Barbados plantation where he was born to finding freedom, love and friendship across the seas. The eight-episode miniseries premieres Wednesday on Hulu. Brown noted that, as a producer, he wants to put out tales that can benefit society. 'I think for me it's been the sort of fare that has been reserved for people that don't look like us so much,' he says — so the opportunity to make it happen was 'very exciting.' The idea of doing a show where a young person overcomes tumultuous circumstances through hope and joy enchanted him: 'They were telling him, 'Maybe you should dream smaller.' He just kept going up. It's beautiful.' Adapting the book The first stop was finding a writer and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds fit the bill perfectly. His lyrical style and family background inspired Brown — who also acts in the show — to get him on board as one of the two showrunners. Born and raised in Guyana, Hinds moved to the United States as a teen with his family, and felt the story spoke to him personally. 'It's always been part of my desire as a writer to tell stories that connect the Caribbean to the overall diaspora,' Hinds says. The show follows 11-year-old George Washington 'Wash' Black, born into slavery in Barbados on a plantation owned by the Wilde family in the 1830s. His quick mind, inquisitiveness and knack for science get the attention of Christopher 'Titch' Wilde (Tom Ellis), an inventor, who enlists him as his assistant. A tragic turn of events forces them to run away together and takes them on adventures on the high seas, North America and ultimately the Arctic; the story stretches across almost a decade. Adapting it into eight episodes required changes to the book, but they kept to the emotional core of the journey. 'It's big and expansive, not for its own sake, but because I think that thematically reflects the character's heart and the character's own ambitions,' says Hinds. The series, which filmed across locations in Nova Scotia, Canada; Virginia, Mexico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Iceland took nine months to complete. Co-showrunner Kim Harrison is still incredulous at pulling off such a massive endeavor of juggling multiple locations, temperamental weather and stars' schedules. 'When you look back at the finished product, you're like, 'Wow, we did that,'' she says of the feat. Two stars are born, with a mentor to boot Among the many elements that had to work, the most crucial one, perhaps, was finding its young leads — one actor to play young Wash and another to play him as a young adult. After months and months of auditions and thousands of tapes, they both revealed themselves in an 'undeniable' way to the producers. 'They both carry the truth of the character in their eyes … like they've got the same emotional expression and intelligence and empathy in their in their eyes,' Hinds says. He's speaking of Ernest Kingsley Jr. and Eddie Karanja, who was just 14 at the time. Kingsley got the older part three months out of acting school in London; he was bowled over when he had to do a chemistry read with Brown, who stars as Medwin Harris, a Black community leader and father figure in the Nova Scotia years. Brown found himself impressed by the newcomer immediately. 'This kid embodies the hopefulness, the sort of Black boy joy that is the engine that drives the show,' he recalls thinking during auditions. Brown inadvertently became a mentor to the inexperienced actors on set because he wanted all of them to feel comfortable. He remembers how young actors feel unable to voice doubts or practical questions because everyone else seems to know what they're supposed to do. 'You just want to give them the space to share all of that so we can move through it together,' he says. He extended the same helping hand to Iola Evans, who plays older Wash's love interest, and Edward Bluemel, her suitor. Brown always made time in his busy schedule to visit the set to watch, listen and generally be a hype man. Don't call him a baddie Charles Dance, the inscrutable paterfamilias James Wilde, surprised everyone who'd seen him in 'Game of Thrones.' Hinds recollects even Ellis, who plays Dance's character's son, gave a speech at the wrap party in Iceland saying how shockingly nice Dance was — he had been terrified before meeting him. 'So the fact that Charles is scary and intimidating just worked beautifully for us,' laughs Hinds as Ellis channeled it into his performance. Karanja says he even got a boost from Dance: 'Charles was the warmest guy and he continued to give me confidence in myself as an actor.'
