Rupert Graves has joined the cast of Washington Black, the Hulu series based on Esi Edugyan’s 2018 novel, Deadline reports.
Graves, known for his work in films including Maurice and Emma, will play an English scientist in the limited series. Shaunette Renée Wilson (Billions, The Resident) will also play a recurring role in the adaptation.
Edugyan’s novel tells the story of a 12-year-old enslaved boy in Barbados who escapes from a plantation with the help of an abolitionist. In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus called the book “a thoughtful, boldly imagined ripsnorter that broadens inventive possibilities for the antebellum novel.”
The novel won the Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada’s most prestigious fiction award, and was a finalist for the Booker Prize.
Last week, Variety reported that Tom Ellis (Miranda, Lucifer) had joined the cast of the series. Other attached actors include Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us), Ernest Kingsley Jr. (The Sparticle Mystery), Iola Evans (The 100), and Edward Bluemel (A Discovery of Witches).
The series will be written by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds and directed by Wanuri Kahiu and Mo Marable. Executive producers include Brown, Hinds, Kahiu, Marable, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, Lindsay Williams, DJ Goldberg, Jennifer Johnson, and Anthony Hemingway.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
