'Washington Black' is the show that could, just like its main character

LONDON (AP) — “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 premieres 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.”

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.

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 filmed across locations in Nova Scotia, Canada, Mexico and Iceland between 2022 and 2024.

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.

“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.”

This story has been updated to correct filming locations.

Sterling K. Brown poses for portrait photographs to promote the television series 'Washington Black' on Monday, June 16, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Edward Bluemel, left, and Iola Evans pose for portrait photographs to promote the television series 'Washington Black' on Monday, June 16, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Eddie Karanja poses for portrait photographs to promote the television series 'Washington Black' on Monday, June 16, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Ernest Kingsley Jr poses for portrait photographs to promote the television series 'Washington Black' on Monday, June 16, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Ernest Kingsley Jr, left, and Sterling K. Brown pose for portrait photographs to promote the television series 'Washington Black' on Monday, June 16, 2025, in London. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Lamar Jackson thought it was over. That the Baltimore Ravens' unwieldy season would end up in a familiar spot: the playoffs.

Then, rookie kicker Tyler Loop's potential game-winning field goal from 44 yards out drifted a little right. And then a little further right. And then a little further right still.

By the time it fluttered well wide of the goalposts, the playoffs were gone. So was Jackson's certainty after a 26-24 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday night sent the Ravens into what could be a turbulent offseason.

“I'm definitely stunned, man,” Jackson said. “I thought we had it in the bag. ... I don't know what else we can do.”

Jackson, who never really seemed fully healthy during his eighth season as he battled one thing after another, did his part. The two-time NFL MVP passed for 238 yards and three touchdowns, including two long connections with Zay Flowers in the fourth quarter that put the Ravens (8-9) in front.

It just wasn't enough. Baltimore's defense, which played most of the second half without star safety Kyle Hamilton after Hamilton entered the concussion protocol, wilted against 42-year-old Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers passed for a season-high 294 yards, including a 26-yard flip to a wide-open Calvin Austin with 55 seconds to go after a defender slipped, symbolic of a season in which Baltimore's defense only occasionally found its form.

Still, the Ravens had a chance when Jackson found Isaiah Likely for a 28-yard gain on fourth down from midfield. A couple of snaps later, the 24-year-old Loop walked on to try to lift Baltimore to its third straight division title.

Instead, the rookie said he “mishit” it. Whatever it was, it never threatened to sneak between the goalposts.

“It’s disappointing,” Loop said.

Loop was talking about the game. He might as well have been talking about his team's season.

The Ravens began 1-5 as Jackson dealt with injuries and the defense struggled to get stops. Baltimore found a way to briefly tie the Steelers for first in late November, only to then split its next four games, including a home loss to Pittsburgh.

Still, when Jackson and the Ravens walked onto the Acrisure Stadium turf on Sunday night in the 272nd and final game of the NFL regular season, Baltimore was confident. The Ravens drilled Pittsburgh in the opening round of the playoffs a year ago behind the ever-churning legs of running back Derrick Henry.

When Henry ripped off a gain of 40-plus yards on the game's first offensive snap, it looked like it was going to be more of the same. While Henry did rush for 126 yards and joined Hall of Famer Barry Sanders as the only running backs in NFL history to have five 1,500-yard seasons, he was less effective in the second half.

Even that first run was telling of what night it was going to be, as an illegal block by wide receiver Zay Flowers cost Baltimore some field position. The Ravens ended up scoring on the drive anyway, thanks to a 38-yard fourth-down flip from Jackson to a wide-open Devontez Walker, but it started a pattern that was hard to shake as several steps forward were met with one step back on a night the Ravens finished with nine penalties for 78 yards.

“We were having a lot of penalties, which kept stopping drives," Jackson said. “But I'm proud of my guys because we kept overcoming. We kept overcoming adversity and situations like this. Divisional games (can) be like that sometimes.”

Particularly when the Steelers are on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Pittsburgh has won 10 of the last 13 meetings. And while a handful of them have been in late-season matchups with the Ravens already assured of reaching the playoffs, the reality is the Steelers have been able to regularly do something that most others have not: found a way to beat Jackson.

“It comes down to situations like this,” Jackson said. “Two-point conversion one year. Field goal another year. And again this year. Just got to find a way to get that win here.”

And figure out who is going to be around to help get it.

Head coach John Harbaugh's 18th season in Baltimore ended with the Ravens missing the playoffs for just the second time in eight years. Jackson turns 29 this week and is still one of the most electric players in the league.

Yet Harbaugh and Jackson have yet to find a way to have that breakthrough season that Harbaugh enjoyed with Joe Flacco in 2013 when the Ravens won the Super Bowl.

There was hope when the season began that the roadblocks that have long been in the franchise's way — Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes chief among them — would be gone.

While the Ravens did get their way in a sense — the Chiefs will watch the playoffs from afar for the first time in a decade after a nightmarish season of their own — it never all came together.

Jackson declined to endorse Harbaugh returning for a 19th season, saying the loss was still too fresh to zoom out on what it might mean for the franchise going forward.

Harbaugh, for his part, certainly seems up for running it back in the fall.

“I love these guys,” he said afterward. “I love these guys.”

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Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, right, hands the ball off to running back Derrick Henry (22) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh talks with an offical during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, left, greets Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) after an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jabrill Peppers (40) reacts after Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop (33) missed a field goal attempt in the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)