Wanuri Kahiu to produce Sterling Brown series ‘Washington Black’

Kenyan director, Wanuri Kahiu, best known for directing the controversial film “Rafiki’ which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018, and was later banned in Kenya, is set to produce new series, Washington Black.

Based on the book of the same name written by Esi Edugyan, the series is set to premiere on July 23 on Hulu and will star award-winning actor, Sterling K Brown.

According to the 8-episode series’ synopsis, Washington Black follows the 19th-century odyssey of George Washington “Wash” Black, an eleven-year-old boy born on a Barbados sugar plantation, whose prodigious scientific mind sets him on a path of unexpected destiny.

When a harrowing incident forces Wash to flee, he is thrust into a globe-spanning adventure that challenges and reshapes his understanding of family, freedom and love. As he navigates uncharted lands and impossible odds, Wash finds the courage to imagine a future beyond the confines of the society he was born into.

Kahiu serves as Executive producer alongside Sterling K Brown, Selwyn Hinds, Kim Harrison, Brown, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Mo Marable, Rob Seidenglanz, Jeremy Bell, Lindsay Williams, D.J. Goldberg, Jennifer Johnson and Anthony Hemingway.

The show also stars Ernest Kingsley Jr., Rupert Graves, Iola Evans, Edward Bluemel, Sharon Duncan Brewster, Eddie Karanja and Tom Ellis.