In advance of the second season premiere of WGN America’s hit original series “Underground,” on Wednesday, March 8 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT, fans are getting a chance to go behind the scenes with the cast and crew in an all new documentary, “Breaking Free: An Underground Special.”
Now available online via WGN America, this half-hour special highlights how a daring few broke free from slavery, one of the greatest atrocities in human history, and established a route to freedom that became known as the Underground Railroad. The documentary special tells the stories of the fugitive heroes from Harriet Tubman to William Still, and uncovers the inspiration behind creating “Underground.” Viewers will get a chance to see the making of “Underground” season two and hear from cast, crew and civil rights leaders on why this story deserves to be told today.
Series stars Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Aldis Hodge, Alano Miller, Jessica de Gouw, Amirah Vann and Aisha Hinds are featured in the special, along with creators, writers and executive producers Misha Green and Joe Pokaski, and director and executive producer Anthony Hemingway. Additional interviewees featured include; Dr. Noelle Trent (Director of Interpretation Collections & Education National Civil Rights Museum), Dr. Clarence Newsome (President, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center), Mekeisha Madden Toby (Writer, Essence Magazine), Dominic Patten (Writer, Deadline.com), and Fergus Bordewich (Author, “Bound for Canaan”).
The celebrated “Underground” cast returning this season includes: Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Rosalee, the formerly timid and sheltered enslaved woman who was called upon to display untapped courage in order to escape North; Aldis Hodge as Noah, the strong and charismatic leader of the infamous Macon 7. He sacrificed everything to get Rosalee and young Boo to freedom; Jessica de Gouw as Elizabeth Hawkes, an Ohio socialite turned dedicated abolitionist who is driven by a sense of morality; Alano Miller as Cato, a cunning and calculating member of the Macon 7 who is always looking out for number one; Christopher Meloni as August Pullman, a lone wolf slave catcher who walks a tightrope between morality and survival; Amirah Vann as Ernestine, Rosalee’s mother and formerly the head house servant on the Macon Plantation; and Marc Blucas as John Hawkes, an abolitionist lawyer who will break the laws he’s sworn to uphold in order to serve what he knows to be right.
Joining the cast in season two as recurring guest stars are: Aisha Hinds in the pioneering role of Harriet Tubman, the Underground Railroad’s most famous conductor revered for her grit, perseverance and unrelenting will to help scores of enslaved people reach their freedom; Bokeem Woodbine as Daniel, a skilled stonemason, who has decided to take freedom into his own hands. Jasika Nicole as Georgia, an abolitionist with a covert station along the Underground whose quiet confidence hides secrets of her own; DeWanda Wise as Clara, a preacher’s daughter from an enslaved community; Michael Trotter as Biographer, an astute observer of people often fearful of taking chances, who lives through the lives of others; Jesse Luken as Smoke, the fearless second in command of Patty Cannon’s infamous gang of slave catchers; Sadie Stratton as Patty Cannon, and John Legend as renowned abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
The half-hour documentary “Breaking Free: An Underground Special” has premiered online today and can be watched in full below:
