A fictional story of people attempting an escape from slavery in the southern United States in the 1800s utilizing a key plot element that employs the literary style of magic realism.[2] In reality, "The Underground Railroad" was a network of abolitionists, hidden routes, and safe houses that helped enslaved African-Americans escape to freedom in the early to mid-1800s. In the novel and the series, it is an actual railroad complete with engineers, conductors, tracks, and tunnels. Cora, an enslaved woman from Georgia, joins newcomer Caesar to ride the subterranean train to freedom.[3]
After a captured runaway slave is publicly burned to death by his master Terrance Randall, two young plantation slaves named Cora Randall and Caesar Garner flee from slaveholding Georgia into freedom. The couple sets its hopes on the mysterious Underground Railroad. That organization consists of an unknown number of steam trains and a vast system of tunnels to transport runaways unseen to the non-slaveholding states of the US and finally to Canada. On their run, Cora strikes a young man in the head, who was with a group of slave catchers. From then on, she is not only a wanted runaway but a fugitive from justice for murder. Hence, Cora and Caesar are stubbornly pursued by slave catcher Arnold Ridgeway and his underage but early-grown-up aide, a black boy named Homer. Ridgeway boasts that no runaway has ever escaped him with the exception of Cora's mother Mabel, who had disappeared without a trace some ten years earlier.
Taken by an underground train to Griffin, a (fictional) city in South Carolina, Cora and Caesar are treated well in the beginning. Cora receives school lessons in reading and in etiquette while Caesar is offered a job as an assistant to a white scholar. But after a while they discover the reality behind the friendly behavior. The town's citizens benefit the negroes only in order to engage in controlling the black community through coerced sterilization and forced drug use. Ridgeway eventually finds out about Griffin, and he and Homer go there searching for Cora and Caesar. Cora is discovered by Homer, but she gets away and escapes to the Underground Railroad. Meanwhile, Caesar is cornered by Ridgeway.
3
"Chapter 3: North Carolina"
Barry Jenkins
Allison Davis
May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)
Cora's next destination is an unnamed village in the midst of the woods. The town's people have formed a human potential cult that eagerly eliminates any sort of ethnic or intellectual variance. Thus any written material or image viewed as iniquitous is burnt, every black person is killed regardless of whether they are slave, runaway or freedman, and any person of Irish descent is seen as inferior. Cora hides in the attic of Martin Wells, the local Underground Railroad station agent, sharing the room with adolescent Grace, another black runaway. When Ridgeway finds out, he saves Cora from lynching by arresting her, and his associate murders Martin for protecting the railroad from Ridgeway. A furious mob drags Martin's wife Ethel away to unjustly execute her by hanging or immolation. The Wells' house is set on fire with Grace still inside.
4
"Chapter 4: The Great Spirit"
Barry Jenkins
Adrienne Rush
May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)
Born in Tennessee, Ridgeway and his father runs a farm and a forge. A forceful man of integrity, Ridgeway Sr., a pantheist, is guided by his belief in a "Great Spirit." Ridgeway Sr. employs only paid freedmen and detests slavery. Arnold is an unconfident young man who shows no talent for his father's work as a blacksmith. Arnold is driven by his envy of his father's self-confident black workers. Thus, he persuades Mack, the black son of one of the freedmen employed by his father, to jump into a dead well, which causes a permanent limp. For the first time, Arnold makes his own money by supporting a group of slave catchers hunting down a runaway black man. Arnold later disappoints his father by expressing his personal view that slaves who have freed themselves are people of worth while those who remain slaves are empty of any humanity. Unable to reconcile with his father, Arnold leaves home.
5
"Chapter 5: Tennessee – Exodus"
Barry Jenkins
Nathan C. Parker
May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)
On their way back to Georgia, Ridgeway, Homer, Boseman (a slave catcher), Cora and her fellow sufferer Jasper cross former Cherokee land. The natives have already been forcibly removed on the Trail of Tears, and the surrounding lands and woods the group now travels through are a burnt-out wasteland useless to all. Ridgeway tells Cora that Lovey, a girl she escaped with, was hung from a gallows and did not die for two days. Cora later attempts to escape after Boseman loosened her chains in order to rape her but she is caught. That night, Ridgeway brutally murders Boseman for the latter's incessant complaining, his treatment of Cora, and for reminding Ridgeway of his estranged relationship with his father. At a favorable moment, Ridgeway reveals how he met Homer: he purchased him when Homer was a little child but set him free the very next day. Since then Homer has not left Ridgeway's side. Cora attempts to escape again while Ridgeway is shooting at some game. Jasper sets himself free by dying in the wagon as the final result of his starving himself to death. Cora almost drowns herself in a river during an escape attempt but is rescued and recaptured by Ridgeway.
6
"Chapter 6: Tennessee – Proverbs"
Barry Jenkins
Nathan C. Parker and Barry Jenkins
May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)
Ridgeway takes Cora to his father's home so he can pay his last respects to the dying old man. Nevertheless there is no reconciliation between father and son. A drunken Ridgeway tells Cora that Caesar was ripped apart by an outraged crowd after the white townsfolk learned he and Cora allegedly killed a white youth during their flight ("Chapter 1: Georgia"). When Ridgeway falls asleep, three armed freedmen under their leader Royal free Cora and take her to the next Underground Railroad station. Ridgeway is left behind, chained to his bed frame and guarded by a grown-up limping Mack ("Chapter 4: The Great Spirit"). Homer sneaks in, kills Mack, and frees his surrogate father.
7
"Chapter 7: Fanny Briggs"
Barry Jenkins
Jihan Crowther
May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)
In North Carolina, the burning Wells house sets the neighborhood on fire and the resulting turmoil facilitates Grace's escape through the back door. Ethel Wells is hung on a tree by her wrists, left to die slowly and painfully. Grace makes it to the half-destroyed Underground Railroad station. Climbing over a boulder heap, the young girl spots a waiting train. Though Grace was the name given to her by Mr. Wells, she reveals her true identity to the female train manager: Fanny Briggs.
8
"Chapter 8: Indiana Autumn"
Barry Jenkins
Jacqueline Hoyt
May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)
Cora follows Royal to the Valentine Farm, an independent black community and winery in Indiana, which prospers under the guidance of the Afro-American founding couple, Gloria and John Valentine. As free people of color, the settlers are even allowed to bear firearms. Royal explains to Cora that she is now safe since slave catchers are not allowed to set foot on any person's property without a warrant from the local judge, whom the community bribes in order to be warned before that document is issued so the hunted person or persons can escape. However, since Cora is not only a simple runaway but a fugitive murderer, her status is precarious. Influential black community member Mingo wants her expelled. Royal spends time with Cora hoping to help her let go of her past and see that she is part of something greater. Cora rejects his efforts and later finds he has left on a mission for the community with two other men.
9
"Chapter 9: Indiana Winter"
Barry Jenkins
Barry Jenkins
May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)
Royal returns with a group of men and women, and Cora opens up about her feelings about his leaving. She decides to tell her story to the community, including her attack of a young man during her flight. Mingo, a community member and a self-freed former slave, interrupts her tale to express his concerns about having her stay since Cora poses a danger to them as a wanted criminal. Ridgeway, after burning Mack's body, goes on to hunt Cora and appears in the local town. He demands a warrant from Judge Smith to search the village for Cora but the judge refuses Ridgeway until the latter can produce a deed proving Cora is runaway property. Royal and Cora spend personal time together. In town, businessman Tom Hardman, Judge Smith, Mingo, and another businessman play cards while discussing a deal for a percentage of the community's fine wine. Cora tells Royal of her concern that the community will force her to leave. Ridgeway is frustrated having to wait for the deed and stops Judge Smith and Hardman on the street to make another demand to search the community. The judge rejects it. Hardman later visits Ridgeway offering his assistance. On the day when it will be decided if Cora can stay or not, the townsmen Mingo invited arrive during the debate and Ridgeway, with Homer, illegally enters the village along with a group of gunmen. Homer mystically knows exactly which cabin is Cora's. Hardman's men then proceed to massacre most of the people living on the winery. In the end, Royal is killed and a grief-stricken Cora is caught again by Ridgeway. Ridgeway forces Cora to take him to an Underground Railroad station, but as they climb down the entrance's rope ladder she pulls Ridgeway off and they fall to the ground. Cora shoots a seriously injured Ridgeway, leaving Homer to grieve over his body. She and young Molly escape through the local Underground Railroad tunnel.
10
"Chapter 10: Mabel"
Barry Jenkins
Barry Jenkins and Jacqueline Hoyt
May 14, 2021 (2021-05-14)
A flashback discloses the mystery of the disappearance of Cora's mother, Mabel. When a mentally unstable fellow slave kills her own two foster children and then herself, Mabel flees into a swamp. She comes to her senses and realizes that little Cora has been left behind. Mabel intends to return, but is bitten by a snake and dies, without anyone seeing it. Some ten years later, Cora and Molly climb out of the Underground Railroad tunnel and a prairie schooner later approaches, driven by a stranger. They board, heading west for an unknown future.
On September 16, 2016, it was announced that Barry Jenkins was set to adapt Colson Whitehead's novel The Underground Railroad into a limited series. Jenkins was expected to produce the series alongside Adele Romanski. Production companies involved with the series were set to include Plan B Entertainment.[6] On March 27, 2017, it was reported that Amazon Video had given the production a script-to-series commitment.[7] On June 5, 2018, it was announced that Amazon given the production a formal greenlight and that Jenkins would direct all eleven episodes of the series.[3] In June 2019, Nicholas Britell announced he would serve as composer on the series.[8]
Casting
In April 2019, Thuso Mbedu, Chase W. Dillon, Aaron Pierre and Joel Edgerton joined the cast of the series.[9][10] In August 2019, Damon Herriman and William Jackson Harper joined the cast of the series in recurring roles.[11][12] In September 2019, Lucius Baston joined the cast of the series in a recurring role.[13] In October 2019, Amber Gray joined the cast of the series in a recurring role.[14] In November 2019, Jim Klock joined the cast of the series in a recurring role.[15] In January 2020, Lily Rabe joined the cast of the series in a recurring role.[16] In February 2020, Fred Hechinger and the rest of the cast was announced.[17][18]
Filming
Filming began in August 2019 in Savannah, Georgia, and production lasted 116 days before concluding on September 22, 2020.[19][20][21]
The Underground Railroad received widespread critical acclaim. Review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 94% based on 106 critic reviews, with an average rating of 8.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "With a superb ensemble and Barry Jenkins' singular eye, The Underground Railroad delicately translates its source material into a powerfully humane series that is as challenging as it is necessary."[24]Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 92 out of 100 based on 37 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[25]
Reviewing the series for Rolling Stone, Alan Sepinwall gave a rating of 4/5 and described the series as "an imperfect take on a painful, sprawling subject. But its emotional highs and lows are stronger than anything you are likely to find on TV this year, just as those images are more gorgeous and nightmarish."[26] Stephen Robinson of The A.V. Club gave the series an A and said, "Jenkins has assembled an amazing cast, including William Jackson Harper as Cora's love interest, Royal, and Lily Rabe, who chills the screen as Ethel, the wife of a North Carolina abolitionist (Damon Herriman)."[2]
Onnalee Blank, Chris Kahwaty, Katy Wood, Bryan Parker, Jay Jennings, Harry Cohen, Luke Gibleon, Pietu Korhonen, John Finklea, and Heikki Kossi (for "Chapter 9: Indiana Winter")
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Limited Series or Anthology
Onnalee Blank, Jay Jennings, Harry Cohen, Luke Gibleon, Chris Kahwaty, Katy Wood, Bryan Parker, Pietu Korhonen, Lars Halvorsen, Heikki Kossi, and John Finklea (for "Chapter 9: Indiana Winter")
