It was recently announced that Tobagonian Actor, Winston Duke will portray Jamaican political activist and journalist, Marcus Garvey in the new Amazon series ‘Marked Men’.

Duke, best known for his role as M’baku in Marvel’s Black Panther’, and in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ and Jordan Peele’s horror film ‘Us’, took to his Instagram to share the news in a post, which captioned:

“Man, where do I begin. As a Caribbean immigrant, activist, and global citizen, one of the most seminal stories in my development has been the words and works of Marcus Garvey. Today I am blessed to announce that I have the opportunity to bring his story to life, along with a kick ass crew of collaborators. It’s not lost on me how important and meaningful this is, not only for the generations that already know his contributions to the Black liberation landscape but for those who have yet to know and embrace him and what he stood for. Can’t wait to step into this one and bring you all along for the amazing journey.”

The amazon series is partially inspired by the Colin Grant biography ‘Negro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey’; and will depict Marcus Garvey as a key member of the Black nationalism movement in the 1920’s.

According to Deadline.com, also carded to star in the series will be ‘Grey Anatomy’s’ Jesse Williams and ‘She’s Gotta Have it’ DeWanda Wise. Alongside, Director Andrew Dosunmu, screenwriter Kwame Kwei-Armah and producers Mark Gordon, Matt Jackson, Glendon Palmer, and Esther Douglas.

DeWanda Wise & Jesse Williams

 

‘Marked Man’ story depicts a young black man who joins J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and subsequently infiltrates Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), a fraternal organisation of black nationalists, caught between conflicting legal and moral responsibilities.

Many took to social media to commend Duke on his new role while applauding the casting of someone with Caribbean roots to play the Jamaica-born iconic political figure who sought to unify and connect all indigenous and ethnic groups of African descent globally.

According to other news, it seems like the Trinbagonian actor will have his hands filled with projects in 2021, as he is also set to reprise his role in Black Panther 2 which will begin shooting in July 2021, and is set to be released on July 8th, 2022.

 

Sources includes: https://www.nme.com/, https://deadline.com/, https://www.looptt.com/

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