Barry Jenkins: Amazon releasing a The Underground Railroad companion book is proof it cares, despite binge criticism

Indiewire

Amazon was criticized for dropping all 10 episodes of The Underground Railroad on May 14, which may have led to it fading from the online conversation and being shutout at the Emmys. “People kept saying that Prime doesn’t care about this show, and you can debate the efficacy of releasing every episode at once, as a binge watch,” Jenkins tells Indiewire. “I think that criticism is valid, but that they don’t care about the show is just completely false. I think the book is proven evidence of the opposite. Nothing compares to this.” He says of the book: “I thought it was a really lovely way to honor the work everyone involved had done on the show and it far exceeded my expectations. The fact that all those essays are original blew my mind, and just the presentation of it. It felt like making the show all over again, but in the best way, just honoring all the work that everyone put into it, from the art department, to the actors, to the writers, to everyone.”