'Underground Railroad': Joel Edgerton Cast As A Slave Catcher In Barry Jenkins' Amazon Series

Sure, there’s just an overabundance of incredible TV series for you to watch nowadays. Just when we think we’ve reached the peak of Peak TV, HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, or one of the other million studios announces yet another project that gets us hyped. But even with the overwhelming number of quality series available that clog your queue, you can’t help but be thankful that the era of Peak TV brings us something like “Underground Railroad.”

Amazon’s upcoming series from the mind of Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins is gaining speed as it approaches production. And according to Variety, “Underground Railroad” is putting together one hell of a cast.

The report says that Joel Edgerton (“Boy Erased“) is the latest cast member to join Jenkins’ upcoming series. For those not familiar with the plot of “Underground Railroad,” the story, based on the novel of the same name from author Colson Whitehead, follows a young slave attempting to find a way out of the South and goes on a journey to find the metaphorical railroad system to freedom. However, she finds that there is actually a literal railroad that runs underground throughout the South. Edgerton is expected to play Ridgeway, a slave catcher.

Edgerton joins the growing cast of the series, which already includes Thuso Mbedu, Chase W. Dillon, and Aaron Pierre.

As mentioned, Edgerton and the rest of the cast aren’t the real reason that you should be excited about the upcoming Amazon series. The biggest selling point, at least in our eyes, is the fact that Jenkins is on board to direct each one of the 11 episodes, marking the first time the director has filmed an entire season of a TV series. Again, this is one of the joys of Peak TV and major companies like Amazon, with their incredible bank accounts.

There’s no release date set for “Underground Railroad,” but with casting underway, we can expect filming to begin later this year.