‘Genius: MLK/X’ producer: ‘We chased not the iconic moments but their personal moments’

“Genius: MLK/X” is the fourth installment in National Geographic’s anthology series, but it’s the first one to focus on two individuals in a single season. After the first three seasons centered on Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso and Aretha Franklin, respectively, Season 4 chronicles the parallel lives of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and Malcolm X (Aaron Pierre). The civil rights icons only met once in real life, prompting producers to find a way in to tell a unified story.

“The challenge for us at the beginning was finding the thematic connection, which we very easily found in the research,” executive producer and showrunner Damione Macedon said Thursday during the show’s panel at the Television Critics Association winter press tour. “They went through the same emotional milestones as men at the same time. They both became husbands in and around the same time, they both became fathers in and around the same time, so we chased not the iconic moments but their personal moments to guide us thematically through the story.”

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The personal gateway also allows the show to ground King and Malcolm, whose larger-than-life achievements have caused people to perceive them that way as well. “They’re so up on a pedestal that you kind of don’t look as them as human beings,” executive producer and showrunner Raphael Jackson Jr. noted. “And part of what we’re hoping the audience can take away from it is, in the same way they were civil rights icons, so too can we be as well. [We want audiences to] relate on a humanistic standpoint.”

The eight-episode limited series, which premiered last week, devotes one episode to the duo’s respective wives, Coretta Scott King (Weruche Opia) and Betty Shabazz (Jayme Lawson), as well. “The men, through the historical context and through creating the story, fall into the background, and Betty and Coretta are lifted to the front, so we get to do their origin stories,” Macedon said of the episode. “We get to understand them as more than just the wives but civil rights icons in their own right.”

Because King and Malcolm only met once — and the show does not abuse creative license to make up another interaction between them — Harrison and Pierre are a pair of leads who hardly interact with each other while their stories intersect. The actors, who were working on Barry Jenkins’ upcoming film “Mufasa: The Lion King” when they booked “Genius,” met about a week before production began on the series.

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“Aaron and I worked together on ‘The Lion King.’ I dunno if you’ve heard of it,” Harrison quipped. “We did a year and a half of doing the voiceover work, but we never talked about it as we got the job. I asked Barry Jenkins, ‘Does Aaron know he’s playing Malcolm X?’ When I finally saw him … we had a bit of a chat. It was like, ‘How do you feel? Are you excited? Are you nervous? Where are you in this process?’ When we went to our little cast dinner, on the car ride back, we had discussions about how do we wanna lead. Because the extension of getting cast in these roles is how do we represent leadership for these men on these sets? That was a point of connection.”

The two checked way midway through production when Pierre came over to Harrison’s for dinner. “I made dinner, he brought some donuts, and we chatted and we checked in just to see how do we wanna continue in the second half,” Harrison shared. “We don’t cross paths too often. We don’t necessarily share notes. I trusted him.”

“I share that sentiment entirely,” Pierre added. “The most treasured thing is, for me personally … is on that van journey the first time we met, we were very vulnerable, we were very open, and we shared our fears, we shared our concerns. And we shared how terrified we were to embark on a journey of this magnitude and to take on a journey with such an enormous responsibility. I think from that was born a trust, was born a deep connection and support between the two of us. I’ve always felt seen by him, I’ve always felt supported by him.”

While the series covers history and major figures everyone has learned about in school, the producers don’t want audiences to think of it as homework. “We want people to be entertained by learning about people we all think we know,” Macedon said. “Another major and important thing for us too is depicting  Martin, Malcolm, Betty and Coretta as young. We all see them as older because we’re reading about them in our history books, but they were in their early 20s and 30s when they were doing all these incredible things. I was telling my daughter recently that Martin and Malcolm were the same age as LeBron James is today when they were both killed. That reminder brings us a little closer to them. It gives us an understanding that, to Raphael’s point, they were touchable. In doing what they did, it only makes them that much more entertaining [for us] as producers and storytellers to illuminate their story but also to bring to life the encouraging and incredible events they brought the world to.”

“Genius: MLK/X” airs two episodes every Thursday starting at 9/8c through Feb. 22. Episodes are available the next day on Hulu and Disney+.

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