Back Adapting Kindred for Television: Highlights from Our Interview with Screenwriter Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

This past February, we interviewed Obie-winning playwright and screenwriter Branden Jacobs-Jenkins about the process and the challenges of adapting Octavia E. Butler’s 1979 novel Kindred into the eight-episode TV series that makes its debut later this month. A time-travel thriller that transports its heroine from Southern California in the 1970s to a plantation in antebellum Maryland, the novel is widely acknowledged as a visionary masterpiece.

Below we present some short highlights from the interview:

Expanding the World of Kindred for the Screen


Why Octavia E. Butler’s Work Resonates with Audiences Today


Why We Need TV Shows on the History and Legacy of Slavery


Depicting Slavery’s Violence in Kindred


You can watch the entire interview here.

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