“I thought it was a really lovely way to honor the work everyone involved had done on the show and it far exceeded my expectations,” Jenkins said in a conversation with IndieWire. “The fact that all those essays are original blew my mind, and just the presentation of it. It felt like making the show all over again, but in the best way, just honoring all the work that everyone put into it, from the art department, to the actors, to the writers, to everyone.” Arguably, it would have been better to see this book published six months ago, before TV Academy voters filled their ballots, It’s a gorgeous work that can’t hurt its chances at the winter TV awards, but it’s also a celebratory project that can continue to inspire further conversation about the series and the history it foregrounds. “Once they told me they were doing it, I gave a little bit of guidance, and suggested writers for certain chapters, but at other points, it was completely hands off,” he said. “Once they had a rough draft of it, I gave feedback.” He spoke glowingly of the hardcover version’s grandeur, likening it to a Taschen coffee table book while also admitting some dismay over its lack of wide availability in that format. The only hardcover copies were distributed to select journalists.
“The book is gorgeous, and, unfortunately, you can’t really appreciate how amazing this thing is without physically holding it in your hand,” Jenkins said. “It’s epic in and of itself, but when you go to each individual chapter, and especially when you read the essays, it’s impressive because it’s the kind of writing that these writers probably can’t do as critics. But nobody needs to come out-of-pocket anymore for anything related to the series, though I do wish we could stock it in the libraries somewhere so people could check it out that way.” The essays come from a diverse group of accomplished writers, kickstarted by an introduction from Robert Daniels, followed by entires written by Matt Zoller Seitz, Doreen St. Félix, Angelica Jade Bastién, Elissa Suh, Jasmine Sanders, Brandon Wilson, Kyndall Cunningham, Danny Leigh, Abigail Nussbaum, Jourdain Searles, and tt stern-enzi. Punctuated by painterly images and artwork that serve as visual essays in their own right, and discussions about craft, they collectively constitute an episodic dive into Cora’s journey. Jenkins contributed an essay, “The Gaze” — an introduction to a 52-minute series of filmed tableaux vivants inspired by the paintings of renowned African American artist Kerry James Marshall. The non-narrative film, released just prior to the premiere of “The Underground Railroad,” isn’t to be viewed as an episode of the series, but as a work in its own right that speaks to the notion of legacy — the importance of reconciling past with present, in consideration of an unknown future. As Jenkins writes:
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