Kerry Washington’s ‘UnPrisoned’ Scores Highest Viewership For Hulu Series Premiere
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Kerry Washington‘s new comedy series UnPrisoned has the highest premiere viewership to date for an Onyx Collective show on Hulu. According to Deadline, the original series, based on the life of author Terry McMillan, is also the most-watched premiere on the streaming app in terms of hours for 2023 thus far.
“I wanted to show a family that every person in America would identify with, even though they’re facing very specific circumstances,” McMillan shared with Variety. “This is at its heart, a father-daughter story. It’s a story about a woman with a teenage son who’s trying to repair the relationship with her dad and everyone can relate to that.”
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UnPrisoned follows an uncanny relationship between Paige Alexander (Washington), a therapist and single mom, and her estranged dad Edwin Alexander (Delroy Lindo), who moves in with her and her teenage son Finn (Faly Rakotohavana) after spending years in prison. Jordyn McIntosh (Little Paige) and Marque Richardson (Mal Kennedy) also appear in the series.
“We tell a lot of stories about what it’s like to go in, what it’s like on the inside — but really excavating the journey of being a returning citizen, of trying to reenter into society is so important,” explained Washington. “And telling the stories of what it’s like to love somebody who’s a formerly incarcerated person is so important.
“I think this family’s such a great example because they are really trying to love each other and be the best they can and I’m so inspired by the characters on the show.”
Kerry Washington has played in a plethora of dramas including Django Unchained and the cult classic Save The Last Dance. The 46-year-old has had less comedic roles, but the 2006 film Little Man co-starring Shawn and Marlon Wayans, showed Washington’s facetious side. The New York-native played a naive mother to a child-like jewelry thief who was left on her doorstep to care for. Impressively, the comedy-crime film grossed over $104,000,000 worldwide.
Washington not only stars in the inaugural Onyx Collective comedy series, which premiered earlier this month on Hulu, but also serves as an executive producer alongside Yvette Lee Bowser, Pilar Savone, Delroy Lindo, Joy Gorman Wettels, Jen Braeden and Kevin Bray and the aforementioned McMillan. The Hollywood A-lister has also executive produced TV shows including Reasonable Doubt and her leading series Scandal.
All eight episodes of UnPrisoned are currently streaming on Hulu and Disney+ in all other territories. Check out the trailer below.
