Newcomer Malachi Kirby plays the pivotal role of Kunta Kinte.
Roots, a remake of the award-wining and history-making 1977 miniseries based on Alex Haley’s novel, is set to air over four nights — starting Memorial Day, May 30 — on no fewer than three cable networks: History, A&E and Lifetime.
The multipart drama, much like its acclaimed predecessor, is an ambitious historical portrait of American slavery, recounting the journey of a family determined to survive and ultimately carry on their legacy despite brutal mistreatment and life-threatening challenges. According to Paul Buccieri, president of A&E and History, the new Roots “will allow new audiences to experience this epic family saga with a new vision that is both incredibly inspiring and tremendously entertaining. We are proud that History will be able to bring new life to this incredible story that remains as important today as it did when the original Roots first premiered.”
Newcomer Malachi Kirby (pictured above) is showcased in the pivotal role of Kunta Kinte, a young African who is captured by slave traders and shipped off to the United States. (The same character was played in the 1977 miniseries by LeVar Burton, who’s credited as an executive producer for the remake.) The cast also includes Academy Award winners Forest Whitaker and Anna Paquin, Emmy Award winner Laurence Fishburne, Golden Globe winner Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose.
Early reviews of the new Roots have been overwhelmingly favorable.
Maureen Ryan of Variety: “In this age of niche networks and splintered audiences, there’s no controversy in noting that the updated version of the iconic Roots miniseries, simulcast May 30 on History, A&E, and Lifetime, is unlikely get the huge audience garnered by the original that aired on ABC nearly 40 years ago. Yet this new take on the saga should be viewed by as wide an audience as possible, from families to school kids to viewers interested in important chapters of the American saga. The lessons the new Roots teaches over the course of its eight hours, which air on four consecutive nights, are worth revisiting, and a number of outstanding performances enliven this retelling of the story of Kunta Kinte and his descendants…
“Ultimately, the timing couldn’t be better for the return of Roots, which is informed by new scholarship about the slave trade and the antebellum South. Race is at the forefront of the national conversation, and yet there are, as there were in the ’70s, generations of Americans who are uninformed about the true dimensions of slavery, or who prefer to remain willfully ignorant of its scope and lingering effects. All the more reason to bring back an unabashedly populist, accessible entertainment that, at times, works best on the level of myth and allegory.”
Dominic Patten of Deadline.com: “With a different director helming each night, the new version of Roots aims to speak directly to 2016. Often brutal in its depiction of the very brutal and vile system of slavery in America, Roots 2016 acts more like four interlocking two-hour independent films. Each in command of his own piece of the saga based on Alex Haley’s 1976 bestseller, Phillip Noyce, Mario Van Peebles, Thomas Carter and Bruce Beresford [weave] a commanding tale individually and collectively from the abduction in Africa of Kunta Kinte, played with stunning dignity by British actor Malachi Kirby, all the way across the decades to the Civil War era and the uneasy alliance between Union soldiers and the slaves fighting besides them.
“In a year that has seen Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation electrify Sundance and being prepped for Oscar contention by Fox Searchlight and Underground shatter ratings records for WGN America, the 2016 Roots is less of a landmark as its 1977 version was. What the miniseries starring Kirby, Anika Noni Rose, the very strong Regé-Jean Page, Erica Tazel, Forest Whitaker and Lawrence Fishburne does have is a commanding presence as poignant and compelling television that you should watch this holiday weekend.”
Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter: “On a night-by-night basis, Roots works the tricky balance between misery and uplift. Even if it can't tap into the [unique] newness of the original, the miniseries is often brutal and harrowing. And just because we've seen a few slavery-related stories hardly means that this is a period that has been depicted in excess. Roots is emboldened by modern cable leeway and top-notch makeup work to make every lashing seem more lacerating, every blow more hobbling (but oddly, not when it comes to the old-age effects), though the series avoids ever feeling exploitative, especially when it comes to sexual violence. Amid beats of the story that are sure to push viewers toward outrage, disgust and sadness, whether it's the specifics of slavery or historical events like the Fort Pillow Massacre or the blowback from Nat Turner's slave rebellion, the darkest parts of Roots are intended as learnable and teachable moments in a series that isn't for the youngest of viewers, but will surely follow its predecessor to become a classroom favorite.”
Here is the official trailer for Roots.