Amazon is currently developing a script-to-series one-hour original limited drama, THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD, based on Colson Whitehead's National Book Award winning novel. Set to write and direct is Oscar winner Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), with the series slated to be executive produced by Pastel (Moonlight) and Brad Pitt's Plan B (Moonlight, 12 Years a Slave).
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, #1 New York Times bestseller, and the winner of the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction, The UNDERGROUND RAILROAD 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," said Barry Jenkins. "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."Videos