The limited series from co-creators Ava DuVernay and Colin Kaepernick premieres on Netflix on Oct. 29.
Netflix has unveiled the official trailer for its upcoming series from co-creators Ava DuVernay and Colin Kaepernick, Colin in Black & White.
The six-episode limited series features Jaden Michael as a young Colin before he becomes the cultural icon and activist known to the world today. The streaming site describes the show as a coming-of-age story that follows the former NFL player during his youth as he tackles the obstacles of race, class and culture as a Black adopted child of a white family.
"Life puts us on a path, sometimes winding. But always ours," the football star says in the released video. "Believe in your path, and by doing that, we can become who we’re destined to be."
"I'm excited to share this first peek into a project I co-created with the incomparable Ava DuVernay over the past couple of years," Kaepernick said in a statement. "I look forward to the world meeting the incredible Jaden Michael, a young actor who plays me during my high school years, just a kid growing up in Turlock, California, who wanted to play ball."
Kaepernick appears in the series as the present-day narrator that guides viewers through the on-screen moments, with Nick Offerman and Mary-Louise Parker starring as his well-meaning parents, Rick and Teresa.
In a blog post co-authored by Kaepernick and DuVernay, the activist explained that the duo created the project to explore growing up as a Black kid in a transracial adoption without references or guides to help navigate negative experiences or interactions and how those situations can impact and shape one's identity and growth.
"It was vitally important to me that this wasn’t another autobiographical series about a famous person as a child," DuVernay said. "It was about challenging the process to determine how we could expand the core of a young person’s path to power into a story that can appeal widely and personally to others. The goal was to take the kernel of the idea and make it mean something to viewers whether they’re watching in Detroit or Dubai, Shreveport or Senegal. The aim always was to allow Colin’s story to catapult viewers into a broader understanding of their own journey alongside the various histories and cultural legacies that each of our lives is impacted by."
"I want Black and Brown kids and their communities to find guidance in how we can combat racism and oppressive systems. I hope someone can see that they too can come out on the other side and be able to say, 'I faced those struggles. I've worked through them, and I was able to be successful and come out the other end, keeping my dignity and my identity intact,'" Kaepernick added. "This is a journey. You are always growing, always evolving. And we want to welcome everyone into that process."
Michael Starrbury (When They See Us) serves as the series showrunner as well as executive producer with Kaepernick and DuVernay. Colin in Black & White premieres on Netflix Oct. 29.
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