(Photo: Shahar Azran/WireImage)
DeKalb, IL — A star-studded cast featuring young actors such as Jharrel Jerome from “When They See Us” and actress Yara Shahidi from “grown-ish” will join HBO’s special “Between the World and Me” premiering Saturday.
The show is an adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book “Between the World and Me.” The book is written as a letter from Coates to his teenage son and describes the author’s experiences growing up in Baltimore and his fear of violence against the Black community. The narrative explores Coates’ notion that American society structurally supports white supremacy.
Based on a 2018 theatrical performance at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, the special will incorporate elements of that production and archival footage and animation.
In the trailer, Jerome described the pains of growing up in Baltimore and Susan Kelechi Watson shared her experience of attending a historically Black college and university.
The special also features Angela Bassett, activist Angela Davis, Alicia Garza, multiple Grammy nominee Ledisi, Wendall Pierce, Phylicia Rashad, MJ Rodriguez, Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, Courtney B. Vance, Pauletta Washington and Oprah Winfrey, among others.
“Between the World and Me” premieres at 8 p.m. ET/PT Nov. 21 on HBO and HBO Max, and will be available on On Demand the next day.