Joel Edgerton joins Barry Jenkins' Underground Railraod series for Amazon Video

Actor Joel Edgerton of Great Gatsby fame has joined the cast of Amazon’s upcoming series, Underground Railroad, reports Variety . Barry Jenkins, who won an Oscar for his 2016 coming-of-age film Moonlight, is all set to write and direct the series which will be executive produced by Pastel (Moonlight) and Brad Pitt’s Plan B productions (Moonlight, 12 Years a Slave).

This will be Jenkins’ first time directing an entire TV series of 11 one-hour episodes.

According to the publication, “The series will be based on Colson Whitehead’s book of the same name, The Underground Railroad which chronicles young Cora’s (Mbedu) journey as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. After escaping her Georgia plantation for the rumoured Underground Railroad, Cora discovers no mere metaphor, but an actual railroad full of engineers and conductors, and a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil."

Edgerton had also previously starred in the The Secret Life of Us, early in his career and went on to do other TV roles as well. But currently he is known for his work in movies like Red Sparrow, Boy Erased, The Great Gatsby and It Comes at Night.

The actor was in news recently for his work as an actor, writer, and director of the film Boy Erased, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018.

The series cast will also include Thuso Mbedu, Chase W Dillon, and Aaron Pierre.