Kelvin Harrison Jr., Aaron Pierre Duel in Civil Rights Struggles as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in ‘Genius: MLK/X’ Trailer

In real life, Black civil rights pioneers Martin Luther King and Malcolm X met only once, briefly, in Washington, D.C., in 1964 as both attended a Senate debate.

And the trailer for Disney’s Genius: MLK/X docuseries, which dropped Thursday, opens with that chance Capitol Hill encounter that foreshadowed their dueling movements and personalities.

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“We meet at last,” Malcolm X declares as the two black leaders shake hands, while in those years from the church pulpit, prison cells and elsewhere they worked to advance racial equality with competing movements: King favoring nonviolent activism as part of his civil rights struggle, and Muslim leader Malcolm X opting for Black empowerment and self-determination to battle against white supremacy.

Ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Disney plans two episodes to bow weekly on National Geographic from Feb. 1, and to then stream on Disney+ and Hulu the day after.

The eight-part series also has Weruche Opia playing Coretta Scott King, King’s wife; and Jayme Lawson playing Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X’s wife, each known as activists in their own right, as their husbands were eventually assassinated and their civil rights fights were halted.

The docuseries from Imagine Television and Undisputed Cinema has as executive producers Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Kristen Zolner, Reggie Rock Bythewood, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Francie Calfo. Raphael Jackson Jr. and Damione Macedon are showrunners and also share executive producer credits with Madison Wells, Gigi Pritzker, Rachel Shane and Sam Sokolow.

Fellow executive producer Jeff Stetson penned the pilot, which Channing Godfrey Peoples directed and executive produced. Ambassador Attallah Shabazz served as a consulting producer. The series is also produced by 20th Television, a division of Disney Television Studios.

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