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[Icolin]

Currently in development at Amazon Studios, produced by Jenkins' Pastel Productions and Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment, based on Colson Whitehead's book "The Underground Railroad. It's important to note that the project is being developed as script-to-series, meaning that if Amazon signs off on the script, it will forgo the pilot stage and go straight to a series order.

Source

”Moonlight" director Barry Jenkins will write and direct a one-hour drama series about the Underground Railroad currently in development at Amazon, Variety has learned. The series will be based on Colson Whitehead's best-selling book, ”The Underground Railroad."

Published by Doubleday, ”The Underground Railroad" has sold over 825,000 copies in the United States across all formats. An Oprah's Book Club 2016 selection, New York Times bestseller, and the winner of the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction, the book chronicles young Cora's journey as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. After escaping her Georgia plantation for the rumored Underground Railroad, Cora discovers no mere metaphor, but an actual railroad full of engineers and conductors, and a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil.

”Going back to ‘The Intuitionist,' Colson's writing has always defied convention, and ‘The Underground Railroad' is no different," Jenkins said. ”It's a groundbreaking work that pays respect to our nation's history while using the form to explore it in a thoughtful and original way. Preserving the sweep and grandeur of a story like this requires bold, innovative thinking and in Amazon we've found a partner whose reverence for storytelling and freeness of form is wholly in line with our vision."

”Colson Whitehead's book is a sweeping, character driven, boundary destroying epic," Joe Lewis, Amazon Studios' head of comedy, drama and VR said. ”Having Barry bring it to life for Amazon Studios is thrilling. We couldn't be more excited to see what they create."

Some more details from the LATimes:

Amazon announced Monday that it is developing an hourlong limited drama series based on Colson Whitehead's National Book Award-winning novel ”The Underground Railroad," to be written and directed by Jenkins.

”‘The Underground Railroad' is a massive job," Jenkins said. ”Right now, I'm thinking I want to do that over six or seven hours, and that will take a lot of time and consideration because it absolutely has to be done the right way. It's a landmark work."

Lock if old.

 

[Icolin]

Bumping this because Moonlight is amazing and this sounds fantastic.

 

[torre_avenue]

Intriguing pick for a follow-up. I don't know if many Oscar-winning creatives go from massive film to TV series. Wonder how much money Amazon is putting up to get this made, especially considering "Underground" on WGN exists.

 

[Not]

Wait so it's like, "wouldn't it be cool if the term was literal?" So it's kind of like sci-fi or maybe even magical historical realism? Like a folk tale? Maybe I should read this book.

 

[Sanjuro]

Underground Railroad: The Animated Series

I'm not sure this is the best course of action. I was mixed on Moonlight, so maybe he can take some time to refine and develop his art.