Tom Ellis (Lucifer) will join Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us, Black Panther) in “Washington Black” at Hulu. The 9 episode limited series is an adaptation of Esi Edugyan’s best-selling epic-adventure novel of the same name. Previously announced cast also includes Ernest Kingsley Jr., Iola Evans, Edward Bluemel (Killing Eve, A Discovery Of Witches), Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Dune), and newcomer Eddie Karanja (After Ever After).
“Washington Black” follows the extraordinary 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.
According to Deadline:
Ellis will play Christopher “Titch” Wilde, an eccentric, passionate Steam-Punk inventor whose youthful enthusiasm masks an inner vulnerability. A disturbing death at his family’s sugar plantation catapults Titch on a remarkable journey across the sky with our hero, young George Washington Black, at his side. Titch finds himself thrust into the position of mentor and father figure to Wash—a role he is ill-prepared for because Titch is chasing the shadow of his own father, an inevitable reckoning that threatens to doom him and Wash both.
Sterling K. Brown will portray the character Medwin Harris.
Selwyn Seyfu Hinds will write the adaptation and serve as executive producer.
The series is also executive produced by Sterling K. Brown under his Indian Meadows Productions banner, The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, Lindsay Williams and DJ Goldberg, Anthony Hemingway and Jennifer Johnson. Esi Edugyan is co-producer.
20th Television is the studio.
Ellis is best known for his role as Lucifer Morningstar in Lucifer. He can be seen next in Players, a romantic comedy from Netflix.
“Washington Black” is slated to begin filming next month. The series is also expected to be released internationally as a Star Original on Disney+.
Source: Deadline