Barry Jenkins Talks Bringing ‘Underground Railroad’ to the Small-Screen for Amazon

Barry Jenkins is making his mark on prestige TV. His adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad was a years-long process. A passion project that began in the pages of Colson Whitehead’s 2016 literary juggernaut and culminates in the 10-part mini-series, Railroad premieres on Amazon Prime Video on May 14.

The Underground Railroad of Whitehead’s novel is not a network of people offering shelter and aid to escaped slaves, but rather a literal underground railway system that transports people across the United States. The series follows a young woman, Cora (Thuso Mbedu), as she utilizes the railroad to make the treacherous journey out of the deep south to gain her freedom.

“I thought Colson had created a really great opportunity to maybe even recontextualize the story of our ancestors,” Jenkins told reporters during an April 30 press conference.

The story begins with Cora working on the Georgia plantation where she was born, an unflinching look at the condition of American slavery. Jenkins does not shy away from the harsh imagery and even more brutal realities of the antebellum south.

Jenkins says he wants his audience to have complete control over how they take in the series, one of several reasons why he insisted television was the only way he wanted to tell this story.

“When you go into a movie theater, it’s a very captive experience. You kind of have to surrender yourself. You’re in the middle of a 30-seat aisle. You turn your phone off,” Jenkins said. “[With] some of the images in the show, the subject matter, I wanted the audience to have the opportunity. You can pause. You can play. You can skip. You can choose whom you want to watch this with, or whether you want to watch it alone. So that was part of the reason why I felt like it had to be a series.”

According to Jenkins, the episodic format also allowed for more space to explore Cora’s journey.

“Some of these images are rooted in fact, or the truth, of the actual lived experience. I think in a shorter timeframe, those images can be so loud that they overwhelm what I call the ‘softer images.’ And so, I felt like giving Cora the full space to encounter all these beautiful [characters], giving her the full space to do that over the course of 10 episodes versus one feature felt like the best way to capture the full spectrum of her experience.”

Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk proved Jenkins to be a master of portraying intimate moments and relationships. With The Underground Railroad, Jenkins is once again centering a relationship—that of a mother and daughter— at the core of his story-telling. This time on a much larger scale.

“Maybe without seeing it, you assume for 10 episodes, Cora is trying to vanquish the condition of American slavery. But what she’s really after is trying to reconcile this sense of abandonment she feels towards her mother,” Jenkins said. “I thought that was a really interesting way to come at a story like this, to present this very truthful, but also, just massive in scope and scale journey, that was ultimately about parenting and about a daughter’s relationship to her mother.”

Jenkins says he was excited for “the opportunity to test his sills” on a grander canvas. Still, the director was also committed to creating an emotionally safe environment for his cast and crew during the difficult shoot— a process that involved rehearsals, breaks when needed, and a guidance counselor on set at all times.

 “I think even the way we made it, the signpost for me was to be very forthright about the truth we were telling and also to have a very strong ethical and moral compass,” Jenkins said. “It’s not worth creating these things if it’s going to destroy us in the process.”

Jenkins knows that The Underground Railroad will be a difficult watch. But he also knows the audience is ready for what’s to come in Cora’s story. 

“I do think the audience is ready for it. And if they aren’t, I think that’s fine too. You know, I think the thing that’s really beautiful about putting images into the world is that, when someone is ready to find that image, it will be there,” Jenkins said. “I think what we all did in creating this show is honor our ancestors. I think we were respectful of ourselves, respectful of the text, and respectful of the audience. So, I do think they are ready. I wouldn’t have made it if I didn’t think they were.”

The Underground Railroad premieres May 14 on Prime Video.