National Geographic/Richard DuCreeNat Geo’s award-winning anthology series Genius will focus on two iconic geniuses — Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X — and how their dueling philosophies helped usher America through the Civil Rights Movement.
The eight-part Genius: MLK/X, beginning Thursday, Feb. 1 at 9pm ET/PT, features Kelvin Harrison Jr. (The Trial of the Chicago 7) as King and Aaron Pierre (The Underground Railroad) as Malcolm.
“[King’s] story has been told so many times over by actors, documentarians, etc.,” shares Harrison. “So, my question for myself was, ‘What am I contributing to his legacy that is expansive to what we have already been privileged to receive?’ The writing of the show is exciting because it was truly about a man who had a calling, and the one who has been called is not always prepared to go on that journey. There’s anxiety. There’s fear. There’s impostor syndrome. There’s that desire that we all have to just live with the person we love or our children or our families. What does it feel like to overcome personal obstacles for your calling, for your people? And if I could answer those questions for myself, then I feel like so many other people would be able to identify with him as well, and that would be more important than receiving him as only a legend. We would be receiving him as a human being who was humble and selfless enough to give himself to a cause much greater than him, and that’s what I felt I could contribute to his legacy.”
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