Hulu’s Washington Black is based on Esi Edugyan’s 2018 novel, and similar to many adaptations from books to screen, it makes various modifications to the source material.

The book unfolds in a straightforward chronological manner, but the series, directed by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds and Kimberly Ann Harrison, employs a structure that features flashbacks. It oscillates between the childhood of George Washington “Wash” Black, played by Eddie Karanja, and his adulthood, portrayed by Ernest Kingsley Jr. The adaptation also adds new characters, like William McGee, acted by Edward Bluemel.

The most prominent change from the book to the television adaptation is the ending, which significantly deviates from the novel’s finale.

In the novel, Wash and his partner Tanna, played by Iola Evans, journey to Morocco to locate Christopher “Titch” Wilde, portrayed by Tom Ellis. Titch is the scientist with whom Wash escaped Barbados during his youth. Wash had thought Titch died in the Arctic after entering a snowstorm with little gear, but Titch survived and continued his work in science.

When Wash meets Titch again, he confronts him regarding his past abandonment. Titch exhibits no regret, instead reminiscing about his own history and the damage he inflicted on his late cousin Phillip. As Titch remains trapped in the past, Wash steps into an oncoming sandstorm, leaving his fate uncertain.

The series features the confrontation between Wash and Titch but leaves out Wash’s entry into the sandstorm. In its place, Wash finishes the airship he has been constructing, which he and Tanna use to journey to Dahomey, his late mother Big Kit’s homeland, played by Shaunette Renée Wilson. There, he engages with the Agojie warriors and uncovers details about his mother’s life prior to enslavement. Wash and Tanna establish their lives there, marry, and start a family. They continue their journey, flying to the Solomon Islands for Tanna to reconnect with her mother.

This finale offers a more positive outlook than the book’s conclusion. In the novel, Wash’s movement into the sandstorm parallels Titch’s entry into the snowstorm, implying Wash may be losing touch with his past suffering.

Conversely, the series imagines a future in which Wash flourishes after his discussion with Titch. Crucially, both Wash and Tanna reestablish connections with their histories that have been denied to them. As a mixed-race, white-passing woman, Tanna was pressured to distance herself from her ties to the Solomon Islands. Meanwhile, Wash only discovered that Big Kit was his mother posthumously. Through his expedition to Dahomey, he links with her, fastening his present and his child’s future to her past.

The significant contrast between the show’s conclusion and the novel’s emphasizes the show’s endeavor to uncover joy in a historical framework riddled with racism and the subjugation of Black people.

In an interview with Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott, Sterling K. Brown, star and executive producer of Washington Black, talked about these initiatives, stating, “This project came to me before American Fiction. But American Fiction actually talks a lot about how it seems most of Black stories for mainstream consumption involve Black pain and trauma. So I thought, how awesome would it be to take this historical context but still illuminate and highlight joy, hope, faith, love, etc.”

This feeling of joy and optimism is most apparent in Washington Black’s closing scenes, where Wash’s aspirations for freedom, love, and creativity are realized.

Washington Black is currently streaming on Hulu.