Washington Black is a show so uniquely engaging, thoughtful, and entertaining that it feels like a miracle something like this could get made at all; the kind of series that I get giddy just thinking about after having watched it, and immediately getting the urge to dive back in again. This adaptation of Canadian author Esi Edugyan’s Giller Prize winning novel of the same name (which has admittedly been altered somewhat in adaptation) is aimed at the sort of young adult crowd that loves to get caught up in intricate, sprawling stories that blend fantasy with reality and revolve around a cast of colourful characters to cheer and jeer. But Washington Black also feels resoundingly classical; a throwback to the kind of adventure stories that haven’t been in vogue for over a century. There’s such a wealth of feeling, perspective, and intelligence to Washington Black that an already entertaining show becomes something truly memorable via a mix of old school storytelling and modern perspectives. It might be one of the only series out there right now that period drama loving adults and teens seeking big feelings will be able to agree on.
Washington Black is built around a time shifting narrative that opens 1837 Halifax, the last stop on the legendary Underground Railroad that black people fleeing slavery would perilously traverse en route to a better life. “Jack Crawford” (Ernest Kingsley Junior) has been living there without incident for the past several years; a charming, well liked, and intelligent dock worker with a mind for science. But his past has come back to haunt him, as bounty hunters have started poking around town, making the young man’s boss and protector, Medwin Harris (Sterling K. Brown, who also executive produces) anxious.
Eight years prior, at the age of eleven, the young man once known as Washington Black (Eddie Karanja) fled from a Barbados sugar cane plantation alongside an eccentric white scientist and inventor (Tom Ellis) in an airship and under mysterious circumstances. Wash is forced into keeping a low profile for everyone’s safety, which puts a damper on his blossoming relationship with Tanna (Iola Evans), a recently arrived mixed-race woman of means from London, whose father (Rupert Graves) is looking for a fresh start. She’s also been promised by her dad to be wed to a wealthy, young tycoon (Edward Bluemel) with secrets of his own.
Series creator and co-showrunner Selwyn Seyfu Hinds has a grand, epic vision for Washington Black, one that stays true to the historical roots of the character. Visually, there’s nothing out there at the moment quite like Washington Black, which freshens up both period trappings and steampunk aesthetics equally and in a way where one informs the other rather than distracting from the heart of the story. There’s plenty of ingenuity to be found in Washington Black, and a genuine love for black history and scientific exploration in equal amount that can be seen in all of the sets, costumes, and visual effects. This show is operating on a level of craft that will leave viewers in awe.
But none of that flash and dedication to detail would mean much if the story itself wasn’t so compelling and layered. Hinds and the team of writers, directors, and performers capture the exhilarating feeling of getting caught up in an effortlessly likeable page-turner. From the very beginning, Washington Black delivers a rush of romance, danger, intrigue, and astute social commentary that feels like a throwback to the kinds of adventure stories that kids used to read all the time between the late nineteenth and mid twentieth centuries, but have fallen out of fashion and coolness today. Most of those tales came from an almost exclusively white perspective, which makes Washington Black’s proudly black point of view all the more revelatory to behold. It’s classical and contemporary in the most equally pleasing of manners.
While the show moves swiftly and nimbly through past and present – not just for Wash, but some of the other characters, as well – every episode gets progressively better and deeper, fleshing out each character and expanding the world of the story in exceptional ways that make the viewer want to keep going without breaks. Along the way there are pirates, underground bare-knuckle fights, uneasy alliances, sudden betrayals, grand romantic gestures, and familial backstabbing, and that just about covers the first half of the series on its own. But everything has its place in Washington Black and none of the bigger set pieces and speeches come at the expense of the human element.
The performances of Kingsley and Karanja work perfectly in tandem, creating a rich depiction of the titular character. As young Wash, Karanja delivers the best performance of an already stacked show. Little Wash is guarded, but hopeful, even though he gradually learns that navigating the shifting motivations of adults is hard to predict. As the older Wash, Kingsley starts off by portraying the characters as a dreamer who hasn’t abandoned his goals of becoming a scientist or engineer, but has found happiness. Once that sense of peace in Halifax starts to be taken away from him, the elder Wash goes into survival mode, forced to stay one step ahead of everyone around him or risk being discovered.
Brown lends a lot of gravitas as the most respected (and in some cases, feared) man in town, and so too does Sharon Duncan-Brewster, as a shopkeeper who helps protect Wash in his darkest hour. Kingsley has an easygoing chemistry with Evans, who turns in a star-making performance as a woman caught between two worlds; between her heart and personal identity and her obligations to her family. Ellis, Bluemel, and Graves are also worth noting as the white people in Wash’s world that could help or hurt the young man’s cause at any moment. There’s even a nice, against type turn for Billy Boyd, who’s chilling as the primary bounty hunter searching for Wash.
The only bad thing about Washington Black is that at some point it has to end. I haven’t been as captivated in this kind of story – either in a feature or series format – in so long that I can’t remember. It’s kind of a tough sell to try and describe Washington Black to people, but it’s absolutely the kind of big swinging epic that’s worth celebrating and embracing. It heralds the arrival of a new, black hero that young people can look up to and call their own, like Indiana Jones, Robin Hood, or Luke Skywalker. Washington Black is something truly special, and if people turn up to watch it, this show could spark a huge legacy of its own.
Washington Black starts streaming on Disney+ in Canada on Wednesday, July 23, 2025.
