‘Washington Black’ Star Ernest Kingsley Jr. on Being at the Center of Hulu’s Globe-Trotting Adventure Series

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Washington Black Season 1.]

Hulu’s adaptation of Esi Edugyan’s novel Washington Black has arrived, and up-and-coming star Ernest Kingsley Jr. has taken on the major task of filling the titular character’s scientific shoes.

With the series tracking his story from his early days as a slave on a Barbados plantation, Washington Black is taken under the wing of abolitionist Christopher “Titch” Wilde, brother to the slaver in charge of the plantation. Titch has a grand vision for his life and sees promise in Wash, training him as an apprentice in his scientific pursuits, which ultimately results in the building of a flying machine resembling the shape of a modern-day blimp.

When one of Titch’s brothers dies by suicide in front of young Wash (played by Eddie Karanja), the boy finds himself targeted as the suspected killer and is forced to make an escape with Titch in the flying machine, setting off on an unexpected journey and leaving behind Kit (Shaunette Renée Wilson), the woman who raised him.

Eventually, Wash is abandoned by Titch after they make it to the Arctic, where Titch’s father, James Wilde (Charles Dance), is researching the northern lights. Upset by his father’s romantic relationship with fellow researcher Peter (Tyrone Giordano) and lack of acknowledgement regarding his own scientific accomplishments, Titch’s tension comes to a breaking point when he learns his father didn’t help push his Royal Science League application through, and he abandons the post.

Eventually, Wash lands in Halifax, where he’s welcomed into the community under the alias Jack Crawford, working closely with Medwin (Sterling K. Brown) and cared for by Miss Angie (Sharon Duncan-Brewster). When Tanna Goff (Iola Evans) arrives in town with her scientist father, though, Wash is immediately smitten.

Tanna is passing as a white woman despite being born to an English father and a mother from the Solomon Islands. While Tanna’s father is eager to arrange a marriage for her to Billy McGee (Edward Bluemel), the sponsor who has funded their travel to Halifax and planned scientific research, she can’t help but be drawn to Wash.

But when a bounty hunter, Willard (Billy Boyd), comes after Wash, his true identity is revealed to those closest to him in Halifax. Ultimately, a fight in the woods leaves Wash victorious over the malicious Willard, and he’s able to travel to England with Tanna and her father in order to showcase the aquarium they’ve worked on together.

When Mr. Goff takes credit for the invention, though, Wash and Tanna decide to carve out their own path as he built his own flying machine. As he sought answers about his past, Wash discovered that Kit was his biological mother, but she’d kept him unaware for fear of the trauma that could result from their separation.

Wash gets a chance to confront Titch in Morocco, where the man had been working on a spacecraft that Wash described as a death wish. While they reach some closure, Wash and Tanna’s peace comes from returning to their homelands, Wash to his mother’s village in Africa and Tanna to the Solomon Islands.

Below, Kingsley Jr. opens up about the globe-trotting adventure, embodying Wash’s experience, and much more.

How did it feel to take on your first major leading onscreen role in this series?

Ernest Kingsley Jr.: It was a mixture of things — pressure, excitement. I just graduated from drama school, so [being thrown] straight into the deep end of things was quite pressurizing. But I had people around me who took that pressure away, especially Sterling K. Brown supported and guided me. And there were plenty of other people around me and my castmates. So yeah, it was pressure, but a mixture of excitement and passion.

When Tanna arrives in Halifax, Wash risks a lot to be with her. What makes her worth that risk?

I think it’s very rare that you meet someone who helps you see yourself even more. I feel like what’s special about Tanna is she’s also a dreamer, and a fiery one at that, and doesn’t shy away from that dream. And I feel like Wash himself being a dreamer and someone who sees more from himself, it’s kind of kindred spirits in that sense. So I feel like that was definitely a driving factor of that love that was really inseparable… Two dreamers coming together, they’ll light the world up.

Wash goes through a lot before learning about Kit being his biological mother, and over the years, has had a lot of parental figures. Who do you think Wash sees as his parents in this story? 

I think by the end, it’s an amalgamation of the people he met. I wouldn’t even say it’s as simple as who’s his parents and who isn’t. I think it’s more so that there is a firm understanding of the people who have poured into you throughout your whole life. And there are a specific and a fine amount of people that have done that throughout his whole journey from when he was an 11-year-old boy in the plantation of Barbados to him in Canada. Medwin and Miss Angie, of course, and a plethora of other characters. But I feel like it’s more so just the amalgamation of these people.

How was the experience of filming this series across the globe?

We filmed in Iceland, Mexico, and Canada. We went all around the world. It was amazing. I felt like I was this kind of new age traveler just exploring the world. It was absolutely incredible. I think that’s the gift of a job like this, that you get to see different things and meet different kinds of people and different cultures. In Iceland and in Canada, the [African] Nova Scotians, and in Mexico as well. It was a dream, and I think it was even more of a dream to do it with the cast that we had. You spend so much time with people over the course of nine months in these different places abroad, and it’s just beautiful to be around.

What was it like choreographing that sequence in the woods where Wash outsmarts Billy Boyd’s Willard?

I love that moment, that whole sequence. It was really tough and arduous in terms of the choreography, and the conditions, as well, where we were filming [there was mulch], and it kept getting into our eyes. We had to have someone on deck every take to put eyedrops in our eyes. But it was really fun as well, just getting to fight the bad guy, and Billy’s incredible. When I was doing those scenes, I was like, “Wow, this is an evil, evil man, Willard, goodness me, this is scary.” But yeah, it was fun.

Did you and Eddie Karanja ever talk about portraying the same character onscreen?

Yeah, we had a few moments where we met up with the director to discuss mannerisms and keeping the essence of our Washs. But I have to say, most of it was casting. I think the casting director did an amazing job, even when we met, the chemistry we have… I love that man. He is one of the most intelligent, beautiful, and kindhearted people I’ve ever met in my life. And just getting to see him on set and work with him in a few scenes was such a gift.

When Mr. Goff takes credit for Wash’s aquarium invention, why is he less surprised about the betrayal than Tanna?

Wash has gone through a lot in his life, and I don’t think it’s any surprise that someone like Mr. Goff would do what he did, especially taking into account his relationship with Titch for a lot of his life. He has experienced someone whom he’d been led to believe he could trust, and he put his heart into it, and at a pivotal moment, he just kind of abandons that trust in such a hurtful way. So when Mr. Goff does what he does, it’s like, “Well, of course I’ve seen this happen before.” As opposed to Tanna, who has that connection of him being her dad, and so she wouldn’t expect it from someone she loves.

Despite Titch’s actions, Wash finds it in himself to deliver James’ dying words to him by the end of the season. Why does he decide to do Titch that kindness despite not owing the man anything?

I think it’s a level of grace that someone has to have to be able to do what he did, and I feel like in him delivering those lines, it’s a cycle that Wash has managed to break out of. What that cycle is is being [in search of] the approval of someone, which I feel Wash arguably has slightly even after Titch has left. And so when you see someone who has completely disheveled themselves and just lost who they are, I think Wash has a level of love and grace in his heart to not wish that upon anyone, and if he has the key to free him from that, then he will, even though he’s causing so much pain and hurt.

I feel like what’s so beautiful about the story is it’s filled with some pain, but you have so many people that have poured into him with love and support and showed him that because someone hurts you in this way… people can choose to show love. And because people have done that to Wash, he can do it for someone.

What is the thing that brings Wash the most peace by the end of the season? Is it him returning to his mother’s village, having his daughter with Tanna, or something else?

There are a few pivotal moments of bringing peace and closure. A big one is going back home. I think that’s where his journey started. And to arrive back in your home place where you experienced such difficulty and pain in this huge machine with the love of your life who was pregnant, and this machine that you’ve built, to your mother’s homeland, I think that’s an immense amount of closure and peace. And then to meet your mother’s friends and family… I know for me, filming those scenes was really beautiful. To be welcomed back home, I think, is incredible.

Washington Black, Streaming Now, Hulu