Underground (TV series)

Underground
Genre	Period drama
Created by	Misha Green Joe Pokaski
Starring	Jurnee Smollett-Bell Aldis Hodge Jessica De Gouw Alano Miller Christopher Meloni
Composer(s)	Laura Karpman Raphael Saadiq
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	10 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	John Legend Mike Jackson (film producer) Ty Stiklorius Akiva Goldsman Tory Tunnell Joby Harrold
Producer(s)	W. Mark McNair
Location(s)	Baton Rouge, Louisiana Savannah, Georgia
Cinematography	Evans Brown Hernan Otaño Kevin McKnight
Production company(s)	Afemme Get Lifted Film Company Weed Road Pictures Safehouse Pictures Wandering Rocks Tribune Studios Sony Pictures Television
Distributor	Sony Pictures Television
Release
Original network	WGN America
Original release	March 9, 2016 (2016-03-09) – present
External links
Website

Underground is an American television period drama series created by Misha Green and Joe Pokaski about the Underground Railroad in Antebellum Georgia.^[1][2] The show debuted March 9, 2016, on WGN America.^[3] On April 25, 2016, WGN America renewed the show for a 10-episode second season.^[4]

Cast

Main

• Jurnee Smollett-Bell^[1] as Rosalee, a young, shy and sheltered mulatto house slave on the Macon plantation. She is one of the Macon 7.
• Aldis Hodge^[1] as Noah, a driven, perceptive and restless slave on the Macon plantation. He is one of the Macon 7.
• Jessica De Gouw^[5] as Elizabeth Hawkes, a socialite with abolitionist ideals
• Alano Miller^[6] as Cato, a cunning and charismatic slave. He is one of the Macon 7.
• Christopher Meloni^[1] as August Pullman, a secretive bounty hunter who walks a tightrope between morality and survival

Recurring

• Christopher Backus^[7] as Jeremiah Johnson, an ex con and slave catcher
• Marc Blucas^[8] as John Hawkes, an abolitionist lawyer
• Reed Diamond^[9] as Tom Macon (né Hawkes), John Hawkes' brother and the owner of the Macon plantation.
• James Lafferty as Kyle Risdin, a US Marshall and Elizabeth's ex-fiancé
• Amirah Vann^[10] as Ernestine, the head house slave of the Macon plantation who is fiercely protective of her children. She is also Tom Macon's lover, and they bore two children, Rosalee and James.
• Renwick Scott^[11] as Henry, a teenaged slave with a rebellious streak and a heart of gold. He is one of the Macon 7.
• Chris Chalk^[11] as William Still
• Adina Porter^[12] as Pearly Mae, a strong-willed wife, mother and slave who first gives voice to the song in which the runners will find clues to help guide them to freedom. Pearly Mae is literate and reads the bible to her husband Moses, which makes the other slaves believe he is the one who can read, although it is only Pearly Mae who can read.
• Mykelti Williamson^[13] as Moses, a fiery preacher for the Macon plantation's field slaves. Many of the slaves believe that he can read the bible, however Moses is illiterate. It is his wife Pearly Mae who secretly reads for him. He is one of the Macon 7.
• Theodus Crane^[11] as Zeke, a formidable slave in both strength and stature. He is one the Macon 7.
• Andrea Frankle as Suzanna Macon, Tom Macon's wife and Pearly Mae's half-sister. Often expresses her disdain for Ernestine, her husband's mistress and mother of two of his slave children.
• Johnny Ray Gill^[11] as Sam, a talented carpenter and Rosalee and James's older half-brother.
• PJ Marshall^[14] as Bill Meekes, the Macon plantation overseer.
• Darielle Stewart as Boo, Moses and Pearly Mae's daughter. Although she is quiet and shy, she is one of the Macon 7.
• Maceo Smedley as James, Ernestine's youngest child. He is the younger brother of Sam and Rosalee.

Special guests

• Jussie Smollett^[7] as Josey, a slave whose wife was sold through John's firm
• Joseph Sikora^[7] as Frog Jack, a goods seller that made a trade with Noah
• Darius Johnson as extra , party goer on s2e1

Production

On February 27, 2015, WGN America gave a 10-episode straight-to-series order for the series which is created by Misha Green and Joe Pokaski.^[1] Season one was filmed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.^[15] Season two has currently wrapped up filming in Savannah, Georgia.

Broadcast

In Canada the show was aired on Bravo.

Critical reception

The online review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave Underground an average score of 93% for a "Certified Fresh" rating. The series received a score of 74 for "generally favorable" reviews from the online aggregator Metacritic.

Episodes

See also

Slavery
Contemporary Child labour Conscription Debt Forced marriage Bride buying Wife selling Forced prostitution Human trafficking Peonage Penal labour Sexual slavery
Historical Antiquity Ancient Rome Babylonia Ancient Greece Topics and practices Atlantic slave trade Middle Passage Arab slave trade Ghilman Mamluk Saqaliba Aztec Blackbirding Byzantine Empire Coolie Corvée labor Field slaves in the United States House slaves Kholop Medieval Europe Panyarring Thrall Serfs History Russia Slave raiding Naval Galley slave Impressment Pirates Shanghaiing Slave ship
By country or region Africa Contemporary Africa Slavery on the Barbary Coast Barbary slave trade Slave Coast Angola Chad Ethiopia Mali Mauritania Niger Somalia South Africa Sudan Seychelles Americas Americas indigenous U.S. Natives Brazil Lei Áurea Canada Caribbean Barbados Code Noir Cuba Haiti revolt Restavek Latin America Puerto Rico Trinidad United States colonial maps female partus penal labor Slave codes interregional Human Trafficking Virgin Islands Asia Bhutan China Booi Aha Laogai India Debt bondage Chukri System Japan comfort women South Korea Yankee princess North Korea Vietnam Australia and Oceania Blackbirding in Australia Human trafficking in Australia Slave raiding in Easter Island Human trafficking in Papua New Guinea Blackbirding in Polynesia Europe Sex trafficking in Europe British Isles Denmark Dutch Republic Germany in World War II Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia Spain colonies Sweden Middle East and North Africa Iran Libya Human trafficking in the Middle East Ottoman Empire Yemen
Religion Bible Christianity Catholicism Islam 21st century Judaism Bahá'í Faith
Opposition and resistance Timeline Abolitionism U.K. U.S. Anti-Slavery International Blockade of Africa U.K. U.S. Compensated emancipation Freedman manumission Freedom suit Abolitionists Slave Power Underground Railroad songs Slave rebellion Slave Trade Acts International law 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution
Related Common law Indentured servant Unfree labour Fugitive slaves laws Great Dismal Swamp maroons List of slaves owners Slave narrative films songs Slave name Slave catcher Slave patrol Slave Route Project Treatment in U.S. breeding court cases Washington Jefferson Adams Lincoln 40 acres Freedmen's Bureau bit Wage slavery Emancipation Day

• List of films featuring slavery

References

External links

• Official website
• Underground at the Internet Movie Database

Underground Railroad
People	William L. Chaplin Levi Coffin Richard Dillingham Calvin Fairbank Thomas Garrett Laura Smith Haviland Daniel Hughes William Cooper Nell Harriet Forten Purvis Robert Purvis John Rankin Hetty Reckless Gerrit Smith William Still Harriet Beecher Stowe Charles Turner Torrey Sojourner Truth Harriet Tubman Delia Webster
Places	List of Underground Railroad sites houses churches Levi Coffin House Bialystoker Synagogue Bilger's Rocks Wilson Bruce Evans House Cyrus Gates Farmstead Sites in Indiana Allen Chapel Town Clock Church F. Julius LeMoyne House John Rankin House Gerrit Smith Estate John Freeman Walls Historic Site
Events	Pearl incident (1848) Jerry Rescue (1851) Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852 book) Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (1856 book) Oberlin–Wellington Rescue (1858) Thirteenth Amendment (1865)
Topics	Songs of the Underground Railroad Abolitionism in the United States Abolitionism opponents of slavery African-American opponents publications Fugitive slaves Fugitive slave laws 1850 Quilts Slave catcher The Underground Railroad Records (1872 book)
Related	National Underground Railroad Freedom Center The Railroad to Freedom: A Story of the Civil War (1932 book) A Woman Called Moses (1978 miniseries) Roots of Resistance (1989 documentary) Freedom: The Underground Railroad (2013 board game) Underground (2016 TV series)
See also: Slavery in the United States and Slavery in Canada