Amazon Prime Video revealed today the official trailer and key art for the much-anticipated Original limited series The Underground Railroad, from Academy Award-winner Barry Jenkins, that will premiere all episodes on May 14 worldwide. The 10-episode limited series is based on the eponymous Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead.
The Underground Railroad chronicles Cora Randall’s (played by debutante actor Thuso Mbedu) desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. After escaping a Georgia plantation for the rumoured Underground Railroad, Cora discovers no mere metaphor, but an actual railroad full of engineers and conductors, and a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil.
Over the course of her journey, Cora is pursued by Ridgeway (Joel Edgerton), a bounty hunter who is fixated on bringing her back to the plantation she escaped; especially since her mother Mabel is the only one he has never caught.
As she travels from state to state, Cora contends with the legacy of the mother that left her behind and her own struggles to realize a life she never thought was possible.
The Underground Railroad stars Thuso Mbedu, Chase W. Dillon and Joel Edgerton in the lead besides 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.
A production of Plan B, Pastel and Big Indie with Amazon Studios the series has been directed by Barry Jenkins.