"America was a desperate and dangerous place. It created desperate and dangerous people. Those characters are what start great TV."
Misha Green is describing Civil War America, circa 1857, which she and fellow executive producer Joe Pokaski used as the basis for Underground, their new 10-episode series for WGN America. The story of seven slaves who attempt a flight to freedom via the Underground Railroad evolved from their historical findings,
"The research was the inspiration," Green says. "Truth was stranger than fiction. We couldn't make up the events that were happening at the time." One document that helped to shape the series was a letter written by a slave girl pondering whether to leave her family behind for a chance at emancipation.
The character of Rosalee (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) was inspired in part by that girl.
The series follows Noah (Aldis Hodge), who discovers a map to freedom and rallies a group to embark upon the dangerous 600-mile journey. On the heels of the escapees is Christopher Meloni, a ruthless slave-catcher.
The slaves' plight unfurls in a landscape of lush cotton fields, decadent plantation houses and historical buildings, re-created on the grounds of Louisiana State University.
"Both our director, Anthony Hemingway [one of four directors on the series], and Kevin McKnight [director of photography for the pilot], were tireless in making everything look not only epic, but emotional," Pokaski reports. "You get the sweeping South, but you also get every tear in someone's eyes in a really beautiful way."
But the fact-based series comes with some twists. For example, the series delivers a fresh take on the era's wardrobe. Costume designer Karyn Wagner amped up slave garments with color to bring out the characters' individual personalities.
And the music — overseen by Oscar-and-Grammy-winning singer-songwriter John Legend, also an executive producer of Underground — also offers some surprises.
"From the beginning, we talked about how we wanted to do contemporary music and infuse that with slave work songs," Green explains. "Music is a bridge of time, and we wanted to drag this time period into the present — show the connection between what was going on then and what is going on now." Thus, slaves in Underground belt out hymns in the fields but run for their lives to Kanye West's "Black Skinhead."
"This is about revolution," Pokaski explains. "People saying, 'I know I'm supposed to be free. I know what I have to do.' It's the most heroic story in American history.
