# Washington Black (2025)

> After fleeing a Barbados sugar plantation aboard a flying machine, a young enslaved boy travels the world in search of his own identity.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/118692

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 8
- Episode runtime: 46 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: adventure, drama, science fiction
- Created by: Selwyn Seyfu Hinds
- Network: Hulu
- Cast: Ernest Kingsley Junior, Sterling K. Brown, Iola Evans, Edward Bluemel, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Eddie Karanja, Tom Ellis, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine
- TMDB rating: 6.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10059166/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: wistful, tense, contemplative, hopeful, adventurous

## What critics say

Audience reception is mixed, with viewers rating the single season modestly while praising its ambitious scope and adventurous journey across eras and locations.

## Synopsis

Washington Black (2025) is an American limited series created by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds for Hulu, adapted from the novel by Esi Edugyan. Ernest Kingsley Junior plays George Washington Wash Black, an eleven-year-old enslaved boy on a Barbados sugar plantation who escapes aboard a flying machine built by the eccentric inventor brother of his master. Sterling K. Brown plays Medwin Harris, a figure whose ties to Wash shape the journey, and Tom Ellis plays Christopher Titch Wilde, whose designs and ambitions propel the escape. Across eight episodes of roughly forty-six minutes, Wash moves through a wide, globe-trotting map of harsh landscapes, uneasy alliances and dangerous pursuers, always pressed to decide who he is and who he will become. Each episode turns on a new obstacle, a new debt or a new disguise, so the story reads like a historical adventure built on the plain stakes of survival. The atmosphere is wistful yet tense, with a steampunk sheen of brass machinery and airborne invention set against the brutal realities of colonial slavery. Its tone is contemplative and hopeful, and its themes of freedom, selfhood and the cost of invention will suit viewers who enjoy period adventure with literary depth. Fans of Underground Railroad, Poldark and The Man Who Would Be King will find resonance here.

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