John Legend, Chrissy Teigen Speak On Racist Paparazzi In Airport
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A month ago we wrote about how television series Underground had cast Aisha Hinds as Harriet Tubman for its forthcoming second season. Now, the WGN America series has cast John Legend as iconic abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass.
Legend, who also serves as an executive producer on Underground, will guest star as Douglass. However, it's unknown how many of the 10 episodes of the second season Legend will actually be a part of. Still, it'll be interesting to see how the singer songwriter portrays the historical figure.
Douglass being included as a character on Underground shouldn't be much of a surprise. Born into slavery Douglass daringly escaped bondage in Maryland, and went on to become one of the most revolutionary leaders of the nineteenth century, as a prominent writer, celebrated speaker and progressive political reformist.
This will arguably be one of Legend's biggest on screen roles to date. For the most part the artist usually appears as himself on various TV shows and documentaries, and has a limited number of scripted roles. But hopefully we'll see Legend recreate some of Douglass' most infamous moments, such as reciting his "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" speech.
Hopefully we'll even get to see Douglass and Tubman share the small screen together. The two abolitionists knew of each other in real life and even wrote letters to one another, after all.
Legend and Hinds will be joining returning cast members Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Aldis Hodge,Christopher Meloni, Alano Miller and Jessica de Gouw for the second season. Amirah Vann, who recurred in the first season, has been promoted to series regular for season two. Recurring guest stars Jasika Nicole, Michael Trotter and Jesse Luken will also be a part of the forthcoming season.
Season two of Underground has a tentative release for early 2017.
