Esi Edugyan's novel 'Washington Black' makes the leap from book to screen

"Washington Black" just seemed destined for a screen adaptation. The 2018 novel by Canadian writer Esi Edugyan caught actor Sterling K. Brown's eye. As he put the wheels in motion, things just started to line up in a most un-Hollywood fashion - so much so that Brown started to believe strongly the project was meant to be. "Sometimes you keep hitting barricades and obstacles and you're like 'Well maybe I should step away.' No, things kept falling into line in such a lovely way that let me know that we were moving in the direction we were supposed to go," he recalls.

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It felt appropriate that the universe wanted a coming-of-age story about a Black boy with big dreams, who goes from the Barbados plantation where he was born to finding freedom, love and friendship across the seas. The eight-episode miniseries premiered on Wednesday on Hulu. Brown noted that, as a producer, he wants to put out tales that can benefit society. "I think for me it's been the sort of fare that has been reserved for people that don't look like us so much," he says — so the opportunity to make it happen was "very exciting."

The idea of doing a show where a young person overcomes tumultuous circumstances through hope and joy enchanted him: "They were telling him, 'Maybe you should dream smaller.' He just kept going up. It's beautiful."

The first stop was finding a writer and Selwyn Seyfu Hinds fit the bill perfectly. His lyrical style and family background inspired Brown — who also acts in the show — to get him on board as one of the two showrunners. Born and raised in Guyana, Hinds moved to the United States as a teen with his family, and felt the story spoke to him personally. "It's always been part of my desire as a writer to tell stories that connect the Caribbean to the overall diaspora," Hinds says.