Netflix has announced the first cast members for Ava DuVernay’s Central Park Five limited series with the addition of Emmy nominee Michael K. Williams (The Wire, The Night Of), Academy Award nominee Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air, Bates Motel), and Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo (Bloodline, John Wick).
Based on a true story that gripped the country, Central Park Five will chronicle the notorious case of five teenagers of color who were convicted of a rape they did not commit. The episodes will focus on the five teenagers from Harlem — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise. The series will span from the spring of 1989, when each were first questioned about the incident, to 2014 when they were exonerated and a settlement was reached with the city of New York.
Williams is set to play Bobby McCray, devoted father of accused teen Antron McCray; with Farmiga playing Elizabeth Lederer, the Manhattan Assistant District Attorney and lead prosecutor on the case; and Leguizamo playing Raymond Santana Sr., the father of accused teen Raymond Santana Jr.
DuVernay will write and direct the narrative series which will be four episodes and is set to arrive on Netflix in 2019.
Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King from Participant Media, Oprah Winfrey/Harpo Films, Jane Rosenthal and Berry Welsh from Tribeca Productions and Ava DuVernay will executive produce the limited series.
(Photo credit: Getty Images)
