'Underground' Season 2 News: WGN Gives 'Underground' the Green Light for Second Season

By Jackie Villegas, Christian Post Contributor Wednesday, April 27, 2016

WGN America has renewed its new period drama series "Underground" for a second season.

"Underground," the railroad drama/thriller chronicling the daring 700-mile escape of a group of slaves from a plantation in Georgia, has been the cable network's most-watched original scripted series to date. The show stars Jurnee Smollett-Bell (Rosalee), Aldis Hodge (Noah), Jessica de Gouw (Elizabeth Hawkes), Alano Miller (Cato), Christopher Meloni (August Pullman), Mykelti Williamson (Moses), and Adina Porter (Pearly Mae).

Like its freshman season, the show's upcoming sophomore run will consist of ten episodes.

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"When we came together to create 'Underground,' we had one mandate, and that was to be bold," creators Misha Green and Joe Pokaski said Monday in a joint statement about the show's renewal (via The Hollywood Reporter). The "Underground" bosses thanked the show's cast and crew for their "blood, sweat, and tears," and WGN America, as well as production companies Sony Pictures Television, Weed Road, Safehouse, and Get Lifted Film for their support.

"And to all the 'Underground' fans who tune in every week, tweet and spread the word, thank you for being bold with us," they concluded the statement.

Meanwhile, the "Underground" creators, as well as lead actors Smollett-Bell and Hodge, have expressed their excitement over the announcement that celebrated slave-turned-abolitionist Harriet Tubman will replace seventh U.S. President Andrew Jackson as the portrait on the $20 bill.

"I just think it's about time," Pokaski told TV Guide. "When you open your wallet you're more conscious of American history. I hope [the Railroad] is something people understand more."

When asked whether or not "Underground" fans can expect to see Tubman in future episodes of the drama, Green answered, "There's no way you can tell the story of the Underground Railroad without the story of this superhero."

Production on the second season of "Underground" begins this summer. The new season will air in 2017.