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‘Underground’ Canceled by WGN America After 2 Seasons

Acclaimed slavery drama “Underground” has been canceled after two seasons by WGN America.

Despite decent ratings and positive reviews, the show simply did not fit the network’s new direction. WGN America is moving away from scripted originals, and also recently canceled “Outsiders,” despite the fact that it was the highest-rated drama on the network.

“Despite ‘Underground’ being a terrific and important series, it no longer fits with our new direction and we have reached the difficult decision not to renew it for a third season,” said Tribune Media president and CEO Peter Kern in a statement. “We are tremendously proud of this landmark series that captured the zeitgeist and made an impact on television in a way never before seen on the medium.”

Sony is trying to shop “Underground” to other outlets, but show has a streaming deal with Hulu, which complicates any deal. BET and OWN have already passed.

The series, which was produced by Sony TV, followed a group of slaves as they sought freedom amid dangerous circumstances. It starred Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Aldis Hodge and Christopher Meloni and received accolades, including four NAACP Image Awards.

May 31, 2017
Jurnee Smollett-Bell & Aldis Hodge Are Learning as Much From ‘Underground’ as You Are

“Underground’s” Roselee and Noah represent the human heart beating at the center of the series’ historic tale, and no one knows it better than Jurnee Smollett-Bell and Aldis Hodge.

After a long stretch in between a season finale that left viewers desperately concerned about whether the couple’s love would survive the not-always clandestine battle for freedom from slavery that left them separated, and the season premiere which finally answered some of the burning questions about their current fates: Noah’s managed to dodge a death sentence, while Rosalee’s joined the company of the eventually-renowned Harriet Tubman, the leading historical figure in the saga of the Underground Railroad.

And as Smollett-Bell and Hodge revealed to Moviefone, they’re not just reveling in the opportunity to tell a revealing, important story from the past that remains sorely and vitally relevant to modern times, their educating themselves along the way.

Moviefone: After such an amazing first season, what got you excited about coming back for more, once you knew where they were going to start moving the story?

Aldis Hodge: For me, it was just the effect that we were able to achieve with the first season was unreal for us. We didn’t really expect it. So being able to come back and see where they were going to take the story, because they write in such an interesting way. It’s such an unpredictable way.

As an actor, it’s kind of like just candy, man. You can look forward to good stories, and then we have the introduction of so many new characters, that it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. So along with shooting it, we’re kind of fans of the process as well.

But I’m excited for the fans. What we experienced last year, it was really kind of surreal, and we didn’t know how people were going to grasp on to it, but they’ve really attached themselves to it. I’m more excited about replicating that and giving them that experience, that rollercoaster ride all over again.

Jurnee Smollett-Bell: For me, it was the idea of when [showrunners] Misha [Green] and Joe [Pokaski] told us this season, the theme is citizen versus soldier. Who decides to become who? The idea of Noah and Rosalee — we’ve lost everyone. We’ve even lost each other by the end of Season 1. So what do you do?

For me, I have my freedom, but at the cost of what? Who did I have to sacrifice to get here? And I realized that freedom ain’t so free, and there’s no way to live in peace and happiness knowing everyone I love is in bondage, between Noah, my mother, and my brother.

So the idea of meeting up with Harriet Tubman — that’s where we meet Rosalee in the beginning of Season 2: she has been on the road with Harriet for the past few months learning how to transfer cargo. What station is where, who to contact, what’s the language, the lingo to use. And my ultimate mission is to go and run 600 miles to get my family back, but I want to take a detour first and get Noah, break him out of jail, and Harriet doesn’t agree with that plan.

Bringing in those historical figures, how did that change things up for the storyline? Did you feel that it impacted to have those big, significant presences there?

Hodge: I feel like it added to what we already started building in the first season, because even though we’re not playing historical figures that people know are real people, but they were built up from real people, and we’re working from real foundation.

So to bring in Harriet to the fold, that had to happen because she’s the patriarch of what it is we’re doing. For the audience, it adds a sense of appreciation, a sense of understanding, and also insight into what that world may have been like.

Smollett-Bell: It’s such a happy coincidence, everything that’s happening right now. Especially with Harriet Tubman being put on the 20-dollar bill. That was all a coincidence. She was always written in into the end of Season 1, and that going into Season 2, we would explore the Harriet/Rosalee relationship. And when that happened, it was just like, “OK, thank you God.”

It’s true. You just feel like there’s just good energy towards everything, and you just feel like, you know what, the world needs to see her story, finally, and need to see this superwoman that she was. It’s all by coincidence, though. I think also, bringing these historical figures in, it just raises the stakes, and makes it just a little more truthful.

Speaking of coincidence, maybe more serendipity, you guys could not have known, when you started on this journey, how important this show would be for the times that people are watching it in.

Smollett-Bell: Yeah. Unfortunately, yeah.

Hodge: Yeah.

So, tell me what it means to you now to keep telling this story at a time when for many people hope is taking a hit, in a sense.

Smollett-Bell: It’s true. Hope is taking a hit, justice is taking a hit, Lady Liberty. I think more so than ever, we need art to lead the way, and we need art to inspire people to rise up, and to not let our country go backwards, because we see what it looks like when we make it what it used to be again.

We couldn’t have planned that, but I think there’s something that happens when art tries to dive into this other world of truth. When you really try to just tell the truth, it resonates, regardless of time period, regardless of nation that you’re in. The struggle for justice is long. It’s a battle we will consistently fight.

Hodge: Let’s be honest, this is not taught in schools. If it is taught, it becomes a choice. African American studies in college — you have to choose it, whereas a lot of people probably won’t. A lot of people will get their understanding of culture and history from, speaking to Jurnee’s point, art, what we do, what we put on TV.

So we, as artists, have a responsibility to be, I would say, we deviate from the truth in storytelling to a degree, but we have a responsibility to be honest to the nature of the foundation of that truth. So in a time like this, I feel like we are fortunate enough to be in a position where our job, and our art, and our creativity is a part of the positive contribution to what we’re looking forward to going into.

Somebody’s going to look at us and say, “I choose to go against that.” This is literally a mirror image of, speaking again to Jurnee’s point, we get a chance to be a part of positive cultural change that will happen, because people will get to a point where they realize we need to do something about it. It will happen, and if we can stand on the right side of that change right now, we couldn’t ask for anything better.

You’ve already, from Season 1, gotten some big returns on social media. You are directly connected to your audience, in a way. Tell me about the responses and what they’ve meant to you as you’ve seen viewers reach out to you to say, “Oh my gosh, this touched me in this way…,” or “I didn’t know this. I should have known this.”

Hodge: It means a lot. It means a whole lot. We were concerned with whether or not people would get us, and whether they would receive us, but the fact that they’ve received us, they take ownership of us, and they carry that to their daily lives.

You have people tracking back their ancestry just because of watching our show. You have people who are incorporating the ideas of our show into their curriculum at schools, different things like this. You can sit back as an artist and truly understand the effect of what your work can do. Speaking back again to the responsibility that we have. I feel like whatever you do leaves a blueprint, and you hope that that blueprint is a positive one and effective.

When people come up and tell us how involved they are, or how passionate they are, that they learned something new that they never knew this time frame was like this, it shows that it’s not just art for art’s sake, we’re actually creating something that’s educating people and influencing our community. Which, at the end of the day, is the bigger goal of what we do and why we do it.

Tell me about the historical lessons for you guys — because you’re not just actors, you’re learning history on the job — and what have been some of the takeaways that you didn’t see coming when you signed on.

Smollett-Bell: To know how much it’s challenged me in every aspect of my life, mind, body, spirit — physically, to just do an ounce of the physicality that our ancestors actually did in real life humbles me. There were real men and women who ran 600, 800, 1,000, 1,500 miles. Can you imagine what that’s like? Most of us, it’s hard to run one mile, let alone 600 miles.

So working in the conditions, it really humbles me, but inspires me to understand the depth of our strength. We are mighty people. We are a mighty nation, and this nation was built on the backs of mighty people, and that same spirit is inside all of us, and I think we take it for granted. We hold our history, and we hold our ancestors up on this pedestal as if they’re untouchable, and as if what they did, and what they achieved, and the path that they’ve pushed this nation in is in the past.

In reality, that’s what we come from, and that is what we therefore are capable of bringing this nation to as well. So for me, it’s just been so inspiring, because some of these stories you read, it’s like, there is no way. She ran with a newborn strapped on her back? She ran through the swamps, and the alligators, and the snakes. She ran barefoot? What?

Then the ingenuity of this complex network, which really we dive into more in Season 2 than we did in Season 1, just how complex it was to transfer cargo, the underground tunnels, the fake names, maybe working in the day time at a hospital because you’re trying to save up money so that you can afford to transfer cargo. This whole network really is explored more in Season 2.

They were brilliant. We always say, “They didn’t have a cell phone, or a map to put in GPS to find their way, but they used their God-given instincts.”

Jurnee, now that you’re a new parent and you’re part of this narrative, what does that mean to you? You keep pushing these stories forward that sometimes America wants to brush over or forget.

Smollett-Bell: I know, I know. I want my son to know his story. I want him to know where we were as a nation, where we are as a nation, how far we have come, and how far we have to go. And it is so frustrating to me that children don’t learn this in the middle school, high school history textbooks. It’s like a blurb, and normally they sum it up to the legendary Harriet Tubman. They really don’t dive deeper into how we as a nation became this side of our nation.

Fortunately, I had a mom who would throw me Harriet Tubman’s biography when I was eight years old, and having watch it in the “Malcolm X” film, and wanted me to know my Jewish heritage, as well as my African American heritage. But, unfortunately, a lot of kids don’t know the story. That’s why we feel so fortunate to be a part of bringing this story to life. Not just talking about the occupational slavery, we’re talking about the revolutionaries. Those who did fight-back.

Hodge: The thing we do well with the show is bring it to a terms of commonality. In school, your curriculum says African American studies. There’s history, then there’s African American history. Not realizing that African American history is American history.

Smollett-Bell: And it’s not just limited to February.

Hodge: Yeah, exactly. So the actual separation of it in terms of curriculum has become the reaffirmation of segregation. When you look at these stories, and you look at these people, and you start realizing these human beings who lived here, and that really deserved their space, they fought for their space, they fought for the ideals that we live by today.

You’re saying, wait a minute, “This really is American history.” So it doesn’t leave anybody out. It’s an open door for everybody to come in, and learn, and watch, and enjoy what we’re doing, because we’re celebrating the idea of what it truly means to be an American.

March 16, 2017
John Legend Loves How ‘Underground’ Depicts a Painful History and the Ability to Overcome

John Legend is starting to make living up to that lofty last name look easy.

On both the personal and the professional front, Legend has been enjoying the kind of moment pop artists aspire to but can often only dream of. After building a monumental career in a relatively short period of time — with major mile markers including multiple platinum records, numerous Grammys, both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Selma‘s” “Glory” and a phenomenal mega-hit in the form of “All of Me” — the singer-songwriter has been riding a major wave and adding even more titles — including actor and producer — to his business card.

The both appeared in and co-wrote and performed the song “Start a Fire” in the acclaimed and wildly popular film “La La Land“; he produced his first major Broadway production, “Jitney,” as well as Netflix‘s Young Barak Obama biopic “Southside With You;” he dropped his sixth album, Darkness and Light; and his high-profile romance with his supermodel/TV host wife Chrissy Teigen remains a “relationship goals” guidepost for many, and they welcomed their first daughter, Luna, into the mix. In just a couple of weeks, he and Ariana Grande‘s newly recorded rendition of “Beauty and the Beast” will appear in Disney’s live action adaption of its animated classic.

Also among the past year’s triumphs was Legend’s first foray into executive producing a television series, WGN’s “Underground,” the warmly received scripted drama chronicling the efforts of several characters attempting to escape slavery in the Antebellum South during the Civil War via the secret Underground Railroad. With “Underground” returning on Mar. 8 for a second season — which introduces historical figures including Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass (the latter played by Legend himself), Legend sat down for a roundtable conversation about the show’s future and that amazing 2016 he enjoyed.

Being a part of a show like this makes you a student of history. In learning the history of this time period, what‘s been eye-opening for you?

John Legend: All kinds of little things. You’re going to learn some things about Harriet Tubman this season that are pretty exciting and interesting. I didn’t know that she was a narcoleptic. She had been hit in the head pretty traumatically when she was young, and the result of that was that she would just fall asleep randomly. And she would see things during that time and use those visions to guide her, some of the time.

That was an interesting thing I had never heard of, and there are going to be tidbits like that, throughout the season, because we’re basing this on a real life, who was a superhero in American history that meant so much to this movement.

And you’re taking on the role of Frederick Douglass yourself.

That was pretty easy. It was one day. It wasn’t a long period of time, where I was immersed in it. I just wanted to deliver in that scene, so we focused on that, but I wouldn’t characterize that as a significant role.

Did you have trepidation in playing someone of his historic stature?

There’s some pressure, but it’s not the pressure of having a bunch of video of Frederick Douglass, so I have to sound like Frederick Douglass. No one knows what he sounded like. It was more a photo and his words. That’s not the same pressure as someone who’s a 20th century icon where everyone knows what they sound like, knows what they look like, and knows their mannerisms.

Can you talk about how emotionally challenging it is to be a part of a project that recreates what many consider the worst aspects of American history?

I think the power of the show is that it shows the worst, and it shows the potential to overcome that. I think that’s what is the saving grace of the show. Nobody wants to wallow in misery for a five-season series. You want to see how bad things got, but you also want to see the possibility of redemption, of hope, of change, of resistance.

I think that’s the power of this show is that it shows both the pain and the resistance. It shows the struggle and the accomplishment of reaching your goal. And that’s what makes it fun to make is that it’s not just about how bad things were, it’s about the possibility of changing things. A possibility of resisting it and moving the world.

With the success of “Hamilton,” one of the byproducts was that people were going back and looking at American history. Does it make you hopeful to think that people that will be watching “Underground” might further explore that particular period in American history?

I hope so. I hope people watch this show and are inspired to study that era of American history. Not because we want to wallow in the misery or the oppression, but because it’s important.

When we talk about what’s happening in America now, we talk about the racial divide we still have in America — some of these issues that we’re talking about right now with the police and with race relations, you can’t talk about them if you don’t understand America’s history with race relations, and you can understand America’s history with that unless you understand slavery.

So whenever we’re thinking about what’s happening in America now, without context of history, then we’re operating with a handicap, because you have to know what happened before for you to understand what’s happening now.

You have to understand what Hitler did, and what FDR did with the internment camps in Japan, for you to understand why it’s dangerous to hear Donald Trump talking about registering all Muslims, and banning all Muslims. You have to understand history to understand why that’s a slippery slope and why you don’t want to go down there. So without that context, it’s hard for you to understand what’s happening now.

Do you consider your projects, as a producer, and your music part of your personal activism? Did you always have aspirations of activism?

I always had aspirations of activism. I always thought that part of the role of an artist was to tell the truth about what’s happening and the change you want to see. I’ve always listened to artists who did that — Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, and Paul Robeson — and who used their platform to fight for justice, so I always thought that’s what part of being an artist was, and I still think that’s what it is, for me.

That doesn’t mean every song I write is about my activism, but I write about the things I’m interested in, and I’m interested in things I experience myself. I use the success I’ve gained, in some part, to highlight issues I think are of concern and hopefully galvanize people to make change.

What‘s at the top of your list right now?

There are a lot of things right now. I just don’t want our new president to get us into some stupid war and start a stupid nuclear arms race, or something crazy like that. Those are the big concerns. But then, there’s whether millions of people will lose health care, whether we’ll continue to work towards ending mass incarceration, whether our schools will continue to improve, whether communities that have been left behind will get the help that they need to advance.

There are so many concerns, and my worry is that Trump will be on the opposite side of all those issues of where he should be and where I would like him to be.

How are you staying hopeful these days in the face of that?

Shows like “Underground” really help me feel hopeful because you realize that America has been through some terrible times, but the courage and the wherewithal and the organization and the passion of groups like the Underground Railroad and the Abolitionist Movement defied the odds and brought us closer to freedom and justice. That means, to me, that the people still have power. Even when we’re discouraged by current events, we know we have the power to help make change happen.

How do you feel about television and film producing and acting vs. the musical side of your career?

Television and film are different. Personally, as a fan, I get more excited about a great television series than a great movie, just because you can immerse yourself in it and binge and follow a story for quite a long period of time, which gives you the opportunity to really dive into the subject, in a way that you can’t really do in a two-hour film.

As a fan and even as a producer, the idea of a television series and its impact is fun. This story, you could do a movie about it, but there are so many twists and turns, so much suspense, and so many characters you can explore, that it’s exciting to do a multi-season series.

And music is number one. It’s not even close! Music has been my entrée into producing because a lot of the projects we get involved with, as a film and TV company, have some aspect of music and I get involved in that, as well. And then, acting is something I haven’t prioritized, but if the right things come along, like it did with “La La Land,” then I’ll do it.

What’s the appeal for you in taking on a new version of “Beauty and the Beast’s” title song, and how do you feel you and Ariana Grande compliment each other dueting on that song?

It’s such an iconic song, and as a singer, it’s like a great challenge to try to remake a song that people already love quite a bit. Ariana’s a wonderful singer. I felt like we’d make a good team to try to tackle it. So when Disney reached out to me, I agreed to do it.

Was it special to you when you were growing up?

I love that song, and I thought the film was great back then. I was a little older by then. What was that, 20 years ago? So I was a teenager. So I wasn’t that young. That song was obviously a really important song, and the film was really important. So as an artist, it’s a bit of a challenge to take on something like that where people already love the original and trying to make your own version that honors the original but is new as well.

You just opened your first Broadway show, a production of August Wilson’s “Jitney.” Anything else on your bucket list?

No, not really — not that I can think of right now! I just want to focus on doing what I do as well as I can do it. So for me, when we go on tour this year, I want to put on the best tour that I’ve done. When I made my album last year, I was trying to make the best album I’ve ever made. So that’s the standard I want to hold myself to is trying to make the best content I can make, and focus on quality, and the rest will take care of itself.

Has being a new father changed the way that you approach music or your production projects?

I think it gives you some perspective. I think it helps you think about what life means and what you’re trying to do in your life, and what’s important to you, career-wise. Because some things you just cast aside because you’re like, “I don’t have time for all this.” I need to be a good father, and a good husband, and I need to focus on things I really care about in my career, and not do things I don’t really care about, that don’t excite me.

But also, especially when I was making the album, it made me think more about what legacy means, what history means, what life means, what death means even. I wrote more about that on this album than I ever had before.

March 8, 2017
‘Underground’ Season 2 Gets Teaser Trailer, Premiere Date

“The most notorious runaway slave” of them all is ready to fight in season 2 of “Underground.”

WGN America announced season 2 will premiere March 8, and released the first teaser trailer for its drama about the Underground Railroad. The spot features Harriet Tubman (Aisha Hinds), who was teased in the season 1 finale last May. Jurnee Smollett’s Rosalee will train with the famous American icon to help other slaves escape.

Season 2 sees the country on the brink of civil war and continues to follow the Macon 7 after their daring escape attempt. Returning cast members include Aldis Hodge as Noah, Amirah Vann as Ernestine, Alano Miller as Cato, Christopher Meloni as August, Jessica De Gouw as Elizabeth Hawkes, and Marc Blucas as John Hawkes. Series executive producer John Legend is also set to guest star as abolitionist Frederick Douglas.

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December 13, 2016
John Legend Guest Starring on ‘Underground’ as Frederick Douglass

“Underground” as abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

The Grammy and Oscar winner is already an executive producer on the WGN America drama about the Underground Railroad. Now, he’ll play one of the most iconic figures in the abolitionist movement in season 2, which is currently filming in Savannah, Georgia and set to premiere in early 2017.

“Underground” has been adding more prominent historical characters for season 2. Aisha Hinds was cast in a recurring role as Harriet Tubman, perhaps the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad.

Legend, an acclaimed musician (10 Grammys, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award), is stepping further into the world of film and television. In addition to “Underground,” he executive produced and stars in Oscar frontrunner “La La Land” and also executive produced the Barack and Michelle Obama romance “Southside With You.”

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September 30, 2016