Washington Black Hulu Series Casts Billy Boyd, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Julian Rhind-Tutt

February 2024 · 6 minute read

The “Washington Black” series at Hulu has cast Billy Boyd, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, and Julian Rhind-Tutt in recurring roles, Variety has learned exclusively.

“Washington Black” is adapted from Esi Edugyan’s novel of the same name. The nine-episode series is set in the 19th century and follows Washington “Wash” Black (Ernest Kingsley Jr.) as he flees from a Barbados sugar plantation after a shocking death threatens to upend his life. He becomes the protégé of Medwin Harris (Sterling K. Brown), a Black refugee from Nova Scotia who serves as the de facto major of Black Halifax. While trying to outrun his past and the hunters on his tail, he meets Tanna (Lola Evans), a young wealthy British woman who passed as white but was secretly born of a Melanesian mother on the Solomon Islands, forcing her and her father to flee London for Nova Scotia. Tanna’s father pushes her into an arranged marriage with a white merchant to protect her, but she falls in love with Wash and begins to wonder what her life could be like with him.

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Boyd will play Willard. Willard is the proverbial Man in Black, the hunter dispatched by Erasmus Wilde to find and capture Washington Black. But Willard is no ordinary hunter. He is the dark shadow in Wash’s life. The spiritual and literal manifestation of a system that views Wash, and his genius, as a threat to be contained by any means. And it is only a matter of time before Wash’s light and Willard’s darkness smash together with heavy consequences for all.

Boyd is best known for his role in the original “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy, in which he played Peregrin “Pippin” Took. He has also starred in films like “Master and Commander: Far Side of the World,” “Stone of Destiny,” “Forger,” and “Walking with Herb.”

He is repped by United Agents, SMS Talent, and Optimism Entertainment.

Mwine will play Gaius, who is described as a man with a foot in two worlds, that of the oppressor and the oppressed. His access to information from working in the Great House helps him provide a watchful eye and guiding hand to young Washington Black on Faith Plantation. But standing in two worlds can pull a man apart, and Gaius must somehow find the footing that allows him to serve his people, and still stay alive.

Mwine received widespread praise for his role in the film “Farewell Amor.” He also stars in Solomon Onita Jr.’s film “Tazmanian Devil” as well as “Queen of Katwe” and “Blood Diamond.” He currently appears as Detective Raymond Griggs in the Netflix series “The Lincoln Lawyer.”

He is repped by TalentWorks, Gallant Management, and Sloane Offer.

Rhind-Tutt will play Erasmus Wilde, the iron-handed master of Faith Plantation in Barbados, where Washington Black begins life in bondage before flying to freedom. A man filled with dark complexities and deep conflict, Erasmus’s internal struggles fuel a bitterness that burns all he touches, especially those under his power at Faith. Much like his brother Titch, Erasmus is fighting to escape the legacy of abandonment and Empire before it all dooms his soul.

Rhind-Tutt is known for his roles in BBC’s “Oliver Twist,” “The Wipers Times,” “The Hour,” and “Banished.” He also previously starred in the Hulu series “Harlots.”

He is repped by Independent Talent Group.

“Washington Black” is executive produced by showrunner Selwyn Seyfu Hinds, Brown under his Indian Meadows Productions banner, writer Jennifer Johnson, directors Wanuri Kahiu and Mo Marable and The Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, Lindsay Williams and DJ Goldberg, Anthony Hemmingway and Jennifer Johnson. Edugyan is co-producer.

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