On Monday, Barry Jenkins released the first teaser forThe Underground Railroad, his new television series coming soon to Amazon Prime Video.The Underground Railroadis adapted fromColson Whitehead’s 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. In addition to directing all episodes ofThe Underground Railroad, Jenkins has also written every episode, too, making this one of his biggest creative projects to date.
Jenkins shared the first teaser clip fromThe Underground RailroadonTwitteron Monday afternoon. The clip is simple, yet very effective and very gorgeous (as all things from the lens of Jenkins are wont to do). Running a little over a minute long, we are taking into a great hall of a train station, where we see a crowd of Black men, women, and children standing and looking directly into the camera.Nicholas Brittell’s score for the show is also previewed in this clip, too, with the music swelling as the camera pulls back to reveal more and more people. Despite no formal introduction being made, we know this crowd accounts for just some of the unnamed slaves escaping to freedom on the Underground Railroad. The clip closes by showing a road of Underground Railroad employees, outfitted in their official uniforms, preparing to usher these people to their final destination.
TheUnderground Railroadteaser clip arrives just two weeks after the firstimages from Jenkins' TV serieswere revealed.The Underground Railroadtells the story of “young Cora’s (ThusoMbedu) journey as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. After escaping her Georgia plantation for the rumored 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.“The Underground Railroadalso starsChase W. DillonandJoel Edgerton. This series serves as Jenkins' foray into television, following on the heels of his 2018 featureIf Beale Street Could Talkand launching on Amazon Prime Video before the director moves on toproduction for a follow-up to Disney’s live-actionThe Lion King.
The Underground Railroadis coming soon to Amazon Prime Video. Watch the “Preamble” teaser trailer shared by Barry Jenkins below. For more, find out what’scoming to Prime Video in October.
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Allie Gemmill is the Weekend Contributing Editor for Collider. you may follow them on Twitter@_matineeidle.
