What you need to know
- Will Smith is working on an Apple Original Film called Emancipation.
- Emancipation has collected a number of new stars ahead of continued filming.
- Steven Ogg, Grant Harvey, and Ronnie Gene Blevins are just three of the new cast members.
Emancipation is an Apple Original Film led by Will Smith that already has names like Ben Foster and Charmaine Bingwa assigned to it, but now the Apple TV+ effort has yet more — a lot more.
According to an exclusive Deadline report, the thriller has picked up quite a few new cast members as it readies for more filming.
Over to Deadline:
Antoine Fuqua's Apple thriller Emancipation has rounded out its cast, with Steven Ogg (Snowpiercer, Westworld), Grant Harvey (Animal Kingdom, The Crossing), Ronnie Gene Blevins (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Joe), Jayson Warner Smith (The Walking Dead, The Birth of a Nation), Jabbar Lewis (upcoming Amazon series The Terminal List, Adventure Force 5), Michael Luwoye (The Gifted, Prodigal Son) and Aaron Moten (Next, Disjointed) signing on.
The movie is already filming in New Orleans and will tell the story of Peter Smith, a man who escapes from slavery. The whole thing is inspired by the 1863 photos of "Whipped Peter" that were taken during a Union Army medical examination. The images helped grow support for the ending of slavery due to their graphic content.
Deadline again:
Ogg will play Confederate Sergeant Howard, with Harvey and Blevins as Confederate soldiers Leeds and Harrington. Smith will play Capt. John Lyons, the wealthy owner of the plantation where Peter is enslaved, with Lewis as the enslaved Tomas, and Luwoye as the enslaved John, who bears the brand "R" for "runner." Moten will portray Knowls, a mixed-race man who serves as slave catcher Fassel's (Foster) sidekick, and is viewed as a traitor by the enslaved men.
With new people still being brought into the movie there's no official window for when we can expect Emancipation to be ready for us to watch, but it's definitely one to watch out for.
If you want to enjoy Emancipation in style once it's available you could do much worse than check out our collection of the best Apple TV deals on the market today. The Apple TV not only offers a way to stream Apple's content, but also the likes of Netflix, Disney+, and more as well.
100% exclusive content for the price of a cup of coffee.
With TV+, you can watch well-produced, big-budget TV shows from famed directors, and starring award-winning actors and actresses across all your Apple devices and with up to six members of your Family Sharing group.
