Roots (2016 miniseries)

Roots
Promotional poster
Based on	Roots: The Saga of an American Family by Alex Haley
Written by	Lawrence Konner Mark Rosenthal Alison McDonald Charles Murray
Directed by	Bruce Beresford Thomas Carter Phillip Noyce Mario Van Peebles
Starring	Malachi Kirby Forest Whitaker Anna Paquin Laurence Fishburne Jonathan Rhys Meyers Anika Noni Rose T.I. Chad L. Coleman Emayatzy Corinealdi Matthew Goode Derek Luke Mekhi Phifer James Purefoy Erica Tazel Regé-Jean Page Lane Garrison
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	4
Production
Producer(s)	Ann Kindberg George Parra Will Packer (executive) Marc Toberoff (executive) Mark Wolper (executive) LeVar Burton (co-executive) Korin Huggins (co-executive) Alissa M. Kantrow (line) Dirk Hoogstra (production executive) Michael Stiller (development executive)
Cinematography	Peter Menzies, Jr.
Editor(s)	James Wilcox
Running time	383 minutes 8 hours (including commercials)
Distributor	The Wolper Organization Will Packer Productions
Release
Original network	History Channel
Picture format	480p, 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	May 30 – June 2, 2016
Chronology
Preceded by	Roots Roots: The Next Generations Roots: The Gift
External links
Website

Roots is a 2016 American miniseries and a remake of the 1977 miniseries with the same name, based on Alex Haley's 1976 novel, Roots: The Saga of an American Family. It first aired on May 30, 2016 and stars Malachi Kirby, Forest Whitaker, Anna Paquin, Laurence Fishburne, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anika Noni Rose, T.I. and South African actress Nokuthula Ledwaba. It was produced on a budget of $50 million.

Part 1

In the 1770s, Kunta Kinte (Malachi Kirby) is a Mandinka warrior from Juffure in The Gambia, in West Africa. Kunta's family is loyal to the Mandinka king and are resistant to the Europeans. This, however, means the Kinte family faces the danger of reprisal from the rival Koro family, who trade African slaves for English guns.

Kunta is captured by the Koros, who sell him and other members of the Kinte family to white slave traders for two crates of guns. Despite an attempted mutiny by the slaves, he is transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the Colony of Virginia, where he is sold to John Waller (James Purefoy), who owns a tobacco plantation. Kunta is renamed Toby, and put under the care of a musician slave called Fiddler (Henry) (Forest Whitaker).

With the aid of Fiddler, Kunta makes an escape attempt at Christmas, but is caught and flogged by the cruel overseer Connelly (Tony Curran) until he says his name is Toby, not Kunta Kinte. Kunta realizes that he will not be returning to his home in the Gambia. Fiddler tends to Kunta's bloodied back and tells him to keep his true name inside, no matter what the white men call him.