Nova Scotia-shot ‘Washington Black’ to make summer premiere on Disney Plus

By: David Friend, The Canadian Press Posted:

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TORONTO - The limited series adaptation of Esi Edugyan's 2018 Giller Prize-winning novel "Washington Black" will arrive on Disney Plus this summer.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/05/2025 (509 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – The limited series adaptation of Esi Edugyan’s 2018 Giller Prize-winning novel “Washington Black” will arrive on Disney Plus this summer.

The streaming service says it has marked July 23 for the premiere of all eight episodes of the sprawling Nova Scotia-shot series.

“Washington Black” tells the story of George Washington Black, an 11-year-old slave who unexpectedly escapes a Barbados sugar plantation with the help of the owner’s kinder brother, an ambitious inventor.

Giller Prize winner Esi Edugyan, nominated for her book
Giller Prize winner Esi Edugyan, nominated for her book "Washington Black" stops on the red carpet at the gala in Toronto on Monday, Nov. 19, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

The scientist sees himself in Black and wants the boy to act as his assistant while he builds a flying machine.

The series stars Ernest Kingsley Jr., Rupert Graves and Sterling K. Brown, who’s also credited as one of its executive producers.

“Washington Black” followed Edugyan’s Giller Prize-winning 2011 novel “Half-Blood Blues,” and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the American Library Association’s Carnegie medal for fiction.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2025.

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