Esi Edugyan’s novel ‘Washington Black’ makes the leap from book to screen

“Washington Black” just seemed destined for a screen adaptation. The 2018 novel by Canadian writer Esi Edugyan caught actor Sterling K. Brown’s eye. As he put the wheels in motion, things just started to line up in a most un-Hollywood fashion — so much so that Brown started to believe strongly the project was meant to be. “Sometimes you keep hitting barricades and obstacles and you’re like ‘Well maybe I should step away.’ No, things kept falling into line in such a lovely way that let me know that we were moving in the direction we were supposed to go,” he recalls.

It felt appropriate that the universe wanted a coming-of-age story about a Black boy with big dreams, who goes from the Barbados plantation where he was born to finding freedom, love and friendship across the seas. The eight-episode miniseries premiered on Wednesday on Hulu.

Brown noted that, as a producer, he wants to put out tales that can benefit society. “I think for me it’s been the sort of fare that has been reserved for people that don’t look like us so much,” he says — so the opportunity to make it happen was “very exciting.”

Sterling K. Brown in a scene from 'Washington Black.'

The idea of doing a show where a young person overcomes tumultuous circumstances through hope and joy enchanted him: “They were telling him, ‘Maybe you should dream smaller.’ He just kept going up. It’s beautiful.”

The first stop was finding a writer and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds fit the bill perfectly. His lyrical style and family background inspired Brown — who also acts in the show — to get him on board as one of the two showrunners. Born and raised in Guyana, Hinds moved to the United States as a teen with his family, and felt the story spoke to him personally. “It’s always been part of my desire as a writer to tell stories that connect the Caribbean to the overall diaspora,” Hinds says.

The show follows 11-year-old George Washington “Wash” Black, born into slavery in Barbados on a plantation owned by the Wilde family in the 1830s. His quick mind, inquisitiveness and knack for science get the attention of Christopher “Titch” Wilde (Tom Ellis), an inventor, who enlists him as his assistant. A tragic turn of events forces them to run away together and takes them on adventures on the high seas, North America and ultimately the Arctic; the story stretches across almost a decade.

Eddie Karanja (left) and Tom Ellis in a scene from 'Washington Black.'

Adapting it into eight episodes required changes to the book, but they kept to the emotional core of the journey. “It’s big and expansive, not for its own sake, but because I think that thematically reflects the character’s heart and the character’s own ambitions,” says Hinds.

The series, which filmed across locations in Nova Scotia, Canada; Virginia, Mexico, the US Virgin Islands and Iceland took nine months to complete. Co-showrunner Kim Harrison is still incredulous at pulling off such a massive endeavor of juggling multiple locations, temperamental weather and stars’ schedules. “When you look back at the finished product, you’re like, ‘Wow, we did that,’” she says of the feat.

Among the many elements that had to work, the most crucial one, perhaps, was finding its young leads — one actor to play young Wash and another to play him as a young adult. After months and months of auditions and thousands of tapes, they both revealed themselves in an “undeniable” way to the producers. “They both carry the truth of the character in their eyes ... like they’ve got the same emotional expression and intelligence and empathy in their in their eyes,” Hinds says. He’s speaking of Ernest Kingsley Jr. and Eddie Karanja, who was just 14 at the time. Kingsley got the older part three months out of acting school in London; he was bowled over when he had to do a chemistry read with Brown, who stars as Medwin Harris, a Black community leader and father figure in the Nova Scotia years. Brown found himself impressed by the newcomer immediately.

Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine in a scene. Photos: Associated Press

“This kid embodies the hopefulness, the sort of Black boy joy that is the engine that drives the show,” he recalls thinking during auditions.

Brown inadvertently became a mentor to the inexperienced actors on set because he wanted all of them to feel comfortable. He remembers how young actors feel unable to voice doubts or practical questions because everyone else seems to know what they’re supposed to do.

“You just want to give them the space to share all of that so we can move through it together,” he says.

He extended the same helping hand to Iola Evans, who plays older Wash’s love interest, and Edward Bluemel, her suitor. Brown always made time in his busy schedule to visit the set to watch, listen and generally be a hype man. Charles Dance, the inscrutable paterfamilias James Wilde, surprised everyone who’d seen him in “Game of Thrones.” Hinds recollects even Ellis, who plays Dance’s character’s son, gave a speech at the wrap party in Iceland saying how shockingly nice Dance was — he had been terrified before meeting him. “So the fact that Charles is scary and intimidating just worked beautifully for us,” laughs Hinds as Ellis channeled it into his performance. Karanja says he even got a boost from Dance: “Charles was the warmest guy and he continued to give me confidence in myself as an actor.”

Associated Press