[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Washington Black.]

Summary

The Hulu series ‘Washington Black’ follows young Wash, as he escapes slavery and goes on a thrilling adventure with an inventor named Titch.

The series explores themes of identity, love as rebellion, and learning to trust one’s instincts.

Co-stars Sterling K. Brown and Ernest Kingsley Jr. discuss the importance of enjoying life and inspiring others.

Based on the bestselling novel, the Hulu series Washington Black follows George Washington “Wash” Black, as an 11-year-old boy (Eddie Karanja) born on a Barbados sugar plantation and as a young man (Ernest Kingsley Jr.). When Wash is forced to flee as a boy, he embarks on an epic adventure alongside an abolitionist and inventor named Christopher “Titch” Wilde (Tom Ellis), who’s intrigued by Wash’s scientific mind and who encourages him to experiment. As the young Wash imagines a future beyond the confines he was born into as a slave, the older Wash has learned life lessons that make it more challenging for him to trust. But he finds a kindred spirit in Tanna (Iola Evans), the mixed race daughter of a white Englishman who would prefer to follow her heart than what her father and society want for her. During this interview with Collider, co-stars Sterling K. Brown, who plays Wash’s mentor Medwin and who’s also an executive producer on the project, and Kingsley Jr. discussed the honor and privilege of telling the story of Washington Black, why it’s important to enjoy the things you do in life, what they learned from working with each other, what they loved about the love stories for each of their characters, how love can be a weapon against adversity, and learning to trust your instincts. Brown also talked about the first time he cried during a performance and why he doesn’t shy away from embracing those emotions.

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Collider: Sterling, you’re an actor who is so good at crying on camera that I can’t ever watch you cry without it making me cry. Is that something that you found you were always able to do, as an actor? As far as getting in touch with that side of yourself, emotionally, or is that something you’ve had to really work at? BROWN: I’ve never been asked this question. I can remember the first time that I cried in a performance. I was at NYU, and I was doing an August Wilson play, Seven Guitars. It was in the middle of doing Seven Guitars, where I played Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton, and he was singing “The Lord’s Prayer.” There was this one day on stage where I was just singing the song, and tears just started flowing out of me. It’s an interesting thing. There are things that have transpired in my life that have been difficult and that have caused hurt, but I think I have been able to process those things that have happened that have been difficult because I get a chance to mourn them with frequency. I don’t shy away from mourning them. In the strangest way, there’s a level of gratitude because I’m able to tap into that thing and I’m able to share it with people. When I’m able to share it with people, they’re able to unburden themselves by saying, “Oh, I haven’t let myself feel this thing for a while. By allowing myself to feel it, I feel a little bit lighter with it.” So, I don’t know exactly how it happened, but it happened for the first time when I was 23 or 24 years old. You can definitely tell from watching your performances that your emotion comes from a real place, which is why I can’t watch you cry without it making me cry. BROWN: I’ll say, thank you.
For Ernest Kingsley Jr., It Was an Honor and Privilege to Bring the Story of ‘Washington Black’ to Life

“There definitely is a responsibility.”

Ernest, what’s it like for you to play the title character in this series, as this specific character, telling this story? Did it feel like there was a weight and a responsibility to that? ERNEST KINGSLEY JR.: It felt like an honor and a privilege. There definitely is a responsibility, but those are overwhelming feelings. The character has gone through so much, in terms of his origin and where he starts from. He has a painful start, but he’s managed to triumph over that and see a future beyond his circumstances. He’s someone who operates on the basis of faith and love, and that’s his compass. It was a gift for me because I definitely want to be a person who operates like that, in the same way. I was also surrounded by such lovely cast members and producers who were really holding me and supporting me throughout the whole process. I was really grateful and I was blessed to be surrounded by those people. Sterling, the thing that I continue to learn from pretty much anyone that works with you is that you inspire everyone around you to want to live up to the bar that you set. Is that something you’re even aware of? Does that just come from the passion that you clearly have for the craft of what you do? BROWN: I pay everybody. I tell them, “Say nice things about me and I’ll say nice things about you.” No. There’s a level of intentionality behind it. I do feel as if we are all energy and I try to bring a vibration that elevates the energy of the room. I know, and we all know acutely what it’s like to walk into a room of low-energy individuals or a low-energy individual walks into the room and brings the vibe down. I was like, “Well, let’s try not to do that. Let’s see if we can do the opposite of that.” Life is short, at the end of the day, and the more days that we can spend actually enjoying them and reveling in them rather than just having to survive them, the better life that we have the opportunity to live. So, I try. I meditate. I put it out into the world in a very conscientious way, and what I find oftentimes is that I get it back. It’s a circular thing. The more of it you give, the more you have to give. That’s the blessing.
In ‘Washington Black,’ Love Is a Form of Rebellion in a World That Tries to Tell you Who to Be

“They’re people who see each other and recognize the true soul of who one another is.”

Image via Hulu

I’m a sucker for a good love story, and I love that you each have your own love story in this. What did each of you most love about the love story that you got to really delve into and explore in this? KINGSLEY: I loved that the love story that Wash and Tanna have is a weapon against the adversity they faced. I feel like I haven’t seen many love stories whereby love is the form of rebellion in a world that tells them where they should be, who they should be, and who they should be with. It’s a fiery love. It’s also a love that’s permissive. They’re people who see each other and recognize the true soul of who one another is. It being that powerful was really, really rewarding for me. BROWN: For Medwin and Miss Angie, we’re the older dogs. I won’t dare call us old dogs. And I would never call Sharon Duncan-Brewster old. But we’re the older folks who have become a bit more staid in their ways and unafraid to move from their status quo. They’re both inspired by the young people who give themselves permission to love freely and with abandon. They recognize that there’s risk to it, and much bigger risk for them. What they’re risking, in terms of rejection, is that they’re a hand away from each other. It’s like, “I can reach out and touch you and be with you. You know what? Instead of just being stubborn and by myself, let me risk something more with the opportunity of being with someone that I love.” I love that they were able to learn from the young people who were around them. It doesn’t matter how long you work in a profession, if you’re open in the moment, I would imagine you always learn from each other, whoever you’re sharing that moment with. What did the two of you learn from each other and take from each other by working on this? KINGSLEY: I learned a level of grace. The way Sterling operates is with this level of grace for others before himself. As you heard him say, you feel when someone who is low energy brings the energy down and how beneficial it can be when someone brings the energy up. You have someone who has a healthy dose of self-love and knows himself, and therefore they can incite it in others. I feel like he sees everyone and he considers everyone, whether it’s the cast members or crew members. That’s something I want to do, just in terms of being that presence on the set, being able to move with grace, and incite the best out of people. That’s what he does and that’s what he’s given me. BROWN: Thank you. I appreciate that. There is a level of appreciation that Ernest had throughout the whole process, and he didn’t pay lip service to it. He was really happy to be there. He looked at everything with new eyes. It was not a fresh off the boat thing, but really more like, “What a wonderful opportunity I am being presented with right now.” I’ve done it a little bit longer. Not a long time, but for a little bit longer. And it is a reminder to me to have appreciation with each new experience. I think I do, but seeing it through him, I was just like, “Oh, yeah, this is cool. Oh, yeah, we’re in Halifax. Oh, yeah, we’re in this historical area of Lunenburg where people actually did flee through the Underground Railroad, and now there’s this Black community here. There are things that are happening that I haven’t experienced before, and I don’t have to be too cool for school. I can actually enjoy this with wild-eyed wonder.”
Sterling K. Brown and Ernest Kingsley Jr. Believe You Should Be Passionate About the Stories You Tell

“It does matter that you’re passionate about what you want to put into the world.”

Image via Hulu

Because there are so many things in this industry that you have no control over, when you guys approach things creatively and you have a bar that you set for yourself, is it about satisfying yourself before then hopefully satisfying an audience? KINGSLEY: In order to do a job well, you have to be passionate about it and have a level of interest in it, especially about a story. I don’t think we’d be here if [Sterling] didn’t have a desire to put this story out there and if he wasn’t passionate about it. It does matter, to an extent, that you’re passionate about what you want to put into the world. Also, you are in service, so that passion has to offer something to have someone be inspired by it. BROWN: I have learned to trust my instincts very well. What I mean by that is, if the story intrigues me and there’s something about it that moves me, that makes me laugh, that makes me go, “I want to know what happens in this world,” then I trust that other people will think the same thing. I’ve done that in the face of people who were like, “Are you sure you want to do that? That sounds kind of weird.” People said to me, “You just got nominated for an Oscar. Why would you go back to doing a TV show?” Or they said, “You just won an Emmy. You can leave TV and go do something else.” It doesn’t matter if it’s TV or film. It doesn’t matter if it’s independent or large. If there’s something about it that makes me giddy on the inside, then I’ve learned to trust that. Early in your career, sometimes you wait for validation for other people to verify that your instincts are right. I’m like, “No, I like how I think about things, and I trust it.”

Washington Black

Release Date

July 23, 2025

Network

Hulu

Ernest Kingsley Jr.

George Washington ‘Wash’ Black

Edward Bluemel

William ‘Billy’ McGee

Washington Black is available to stream on Hulu. Check out the trailer: