‘UNDERGROUND,’ WGN AMERICA’S GROUNDBREAKING SERIES, CELEBRATES SEASON TWO IN WASHINGTON D.C. AT THE SMITHSONIAN’S NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER JOHN LEGEND JOINED CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM FOR MOVING DISCUSSION LED BY THE MUSEUM’S ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR DR. REX M. ELLIS
Cast Also Visited the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing to Celebrate Plans to Feature Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill
View
video footage from the event here: https://youtu.be/eEJM5Bt61EY
Washington,
DC, February 24, 2017 -- WGN
America returned to Washington D.C. on Wednesday evening to celebrate
the March 8 season
two premiere of “Underground” with a screening and panel
discussion at the Smithsonian’s
National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC).
The cast and creative team also paid a visit to the U.S. Bureau of
Engraving and Printing where they met with Rosie Rios, 43rd Treasurer
of the United States, whose leadership was instrumental in the
decision to feature famed abolitionist, Harriet Tubman, on the $20
bill.
“Underground”
made its mark at the NMAAHC back in September when it became the
first publi c program screened in the museum’s Oprah
Winfrey Theater. The Museum
welcomed the cast and creative team back
for a first-look at the season
two premiere. Following the screening, executive
producer John Legend
and “Underground” stars Jurnee
Smollett-Bell, Aldis Hodge, Amirah Vann, Alano Miller and
Aisha Hinds,
joined series’ co-creator
and executive producer Misha
Green,
executive producer and director Anthony
Hemingway and
NMAAHC’s co-curator of the Slavery and Freedom Exhibition Mary
Elliott, for a panel
discussion moderated by the NMAAHC’s associate director of
curatorial affairs, Dr.
Rex Ellis. The panel
spoke about the critically acclaimed Underground Railroad thriller,
which follows an unremitting struggle for freedom within a divided
America on the brink of civil war.
During the conversation,
the cast and creative team drew parallels between the struggles
their characters face in the series’ 1857 setting
which resonate today. When asked how viewers can relate to
series' theme “citizen or solider,” John
Legend said,
“Part
of my encouragement to everyone is to focus on what you love to do
and try to be great at it. The only reason we’re up here is because
we focused on what we loved to do and it gave us this opportunity to
tell this story. But when you have this opportunity…when you have
success…you can use that just to help yourself, or you can use that
to make your community better. You can inspire people.
You can use your voice for good and I think that’s what all of us
are trying to do. There are so many opportunities for us to
use the lessons from this time in history for what we’re going
through now.”
Jurnee
Smollett-Bell, who plays
Rosalee, the formerly timid and sheltered enslaved woman, said, “It
is such an honor and so humbling to be used as a vessel to tell this
story. To be a part of telling a story of those who did resist, those
who did rise up, those who were agents of change. This is stuff you
dream of as an artist. It does not come every single day. I feel like
we are all doing our best work because we are called to do this. We
are walking in our purpose every single day when we come to work. As
an artist, it's a dream."
Aldis
Hodge, who stars as escaped
slave Noah in the series, continued, “This
is the kind of job that helps you understand your responsibility.
This is not about us. It’s a gift and an honor to be in this
position, and to be on a show like this, in this particular day and
age, because it is by no mistake that this show is on right now. It
makes me realize as an individual, the power of influence, the power
of our platform as artists, and what we need to continue to do. How
responsible we need to be with the choices that we make and how we
represent ourselves. Because we are now representing real royalty, so
we must carry ourselves as such.”
These
sentiments were underscored by the museum’s own Mary
Elliott who encouraged the
room to take inspiration from “Underground” to “think
about what you’re doing now and what you’re doing today. It is
absolutely necessary that people can look at these ordinary people
doing extraordinary things and say ‘that could be me.’”
Aisha
Hinds, who joins the series
for its upcoming second season as the pioneering abolitionist Harriet
Tubman moved
the room when she explained what it took, physically and emotionally,
to embody the American hero “Approaching
Harriet Tubman was something that took me a minute to absorb. I
inhaled everything that I could but ultimately, her spirit is so big
and so powerful that it consumed me, and it had to, in order for me
to actually articulate her. It required that I be still and surrender
to her spirit and that, I had no other choice to do, because her
story would not have been told through me otherwise.”
Returning
series regular Amirah Vann,
also commented on her big shoes to fill as her character Ernestine
struggles with both domestic, and, drug abuse in the second season.
“For me as an artist, you
have to step up to the plate. There’s no other choice. This is what
we signed up to do.”
Alano
Miller, who stars as Cato, a
character who is always looking out for himself, has a different
outlook on life than his character. “I
think it’s about leaning over to our left and to our right, and
really finding out how to help as Americans. As Human Beings. Because
if we did it together, it could be much greater.”
“Underground”
director and executive producer, Anthony
Hemingway credited his
inspiration for the series to his own passion for the story being
told. “It’s a blessing to
be in a place that I have come to believe is my purpose, day in and
day out. It is enrichening and it’s exciting to come to work every
day.” Co-creator, writer and
executive producer Misha Green
continued that sentiment.
“I think it’s about seeing a vision and making that vision
happen. And I think that’s what everyone sitting up here does.
Looking at what Harriet [Tubman] was doing and what so many people
part of the [Underground Railroad] at that time were doing, and what
they were facing, I think we can be anything.”
“Underground,”
returns to WGN America Wednesday,
March 8 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
From
creators and executive producers Misha
Green and Joe
Pokaski, and executive
producer and Academy Award®-winner
John Legend,
season two of the 10-episode, hour-long series is set in the
aftermath of the Macon 7’s daring attempt to stage the greatest
escape in history, this group of American heroes continues on their
harrowing journey to freedom, with legendary abolitionist Harriet
Tubman blazing the trail.
The
celebrated “Underground” cast includes: Jurnee
Smollett-Bell (“Friday Night
Lights,” The Great Debaters),
Aldis Hodge
(Straight Outta Compton,
Hidden Figures),
Jessica de Gouw
(“Arrow,” “Dracula”), Alano
Miller (Loving,
“Atlanta”), Christopher
Meloni (“Law & Order:
Special Victims Unit,” Sin
City: A Dame to Kill For),
Amirah Vann
(“Girls,” And So It Goes)
and Marc Blucas
(“Blue Bloods”).
Additional
guest stars featured in the upcoming season include Academy Award®
and Golden Globe®
winner and ten-time Grammy Award®
winning singer-songwriter John
Legend as renowned
abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Aisha
Hinds (“Under the Dome,”
Star Trek Into Darkness)
in the pioneering role of Harriet
Tubman, as well as Jasika
Nicole (“Fringe,”
“Scandal”), DeWanda Wise
(“Shots Fired”), Bokeem
Woodbine (“Fargo”),
Michael Trotter
(“Rosewood”), Jesse Luken
(“Justified,” 42)
and Sadie Stratton (“Code
Black,” “Boy Meets World”).
Hailing
from Sony Pictures Television, “Underground” is created and
written by Misha Green ("Sons
of Anarchy," "Heroes") and Joe
Pokaski ("Heroes,"
"Daredevil"), who serve as Executive Producers alongside
Emmy-winning director Anthony
Hemingway (“The People
v. O.J. Simpson,” “Treme”); Academy Award-winning writer Akiva
Goldsman (A
Beautiful Mind, I Am Legend)
of Weed Road Pictures; Tory
Tunnell (King
Arthur, Holy Rollers) and Joby
Harold (King
Arthur, Edge of Tomorrow) of
Safehouse Pictures; John
Legend, Mike
Jackson and Ty
Stiklorius of Get Lifted Film
Co (La Land, Southside with
You); and Mark
Taylor (“MadTV”).
About
WGN America
WGN
America, the flagship entertainment network of Tribune Media Company
(NYSE: TRCO) is nationally distributed in nearly 80 million homes via
cable, satellite and telco, with high-quality entertainment
programming including the breakout hit series “Outsiders” and
“Underground.” The network also brings its audience a strong
slate of popular first-run syndicated series and blockbuster movies.
Follow the network on Twitter @wgnamerica. For additional
information, please visit www.wgnamerica.com.
About
Sony Pictures Television
Sony
Pictures Television is one of the television industry’s leading
content providers, producing and distributing programming worldwide
in every genre and for every platform. In addition to managing one of
the industry’s largest libraries of award-winning feature films,
television shows and formats, SPT is home to a thriving US production
business and operates 17 wholly-owned or joint venture production
companies in 13 countries around the world. SPT’s worldwide
networks portfolio includes 150 channel feeds, which are available in
178 countries reaching more than 1.3 billion cumulative households
worldwide. Sony Pictures Television (SPT) is a Sony Pictures
Entertainment Company.
About
Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and
Culture
The
National Museum of African American History and Culture opened Sept.
24 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Occupying a prominent
location next to the Washington Monument, the nearly
400,000-square-foot museum is the nation’s largest and most
comprehensive cultural destination devoted exclusively to exploring,
documenting and showcasing the African American story and its impact
on American and world history. For more information about the museum,
visit nmaahc.si.edu or call Smithsonian information at (202)
633-1000.
Social
Media Handles:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/UndergroundWGN
Twitter:
@UndergroundWGN
Instagram:@UndergroundWGN
“Underground”
Panelist Social Media Handles:
Alano
Miller: @AlanoMiller
Amirah
Vann: @amirahvann
Jessica
de Gouw: @jessdegouw
Aisha
Hinds: @AishaHinds
Mike
Jackson: @mikemjackson312
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