‘61st Street’ Cast Discusses Being Embraced By The People Of Chicago – SXSW Studio

61st Street is an upcoming courtroom drama series from AMC executive produced by Jordan and Alana Mayo of Outlier Society, J. David Shanks and Michael B. Jordan. Moffat serves as executive producer and showrunner. AMC Studios Content Distribution will manage worldwide sales.

Starring Aunjanue Ellis, Courtney B. Vance, Tosin Cole, Bentley Green, Andrene Ward-Hammond and Mark O’Brien, 61st Street follows Moses Johnson (Cole), a 17-year-old track star from the South Side of Chicago who is headed to college on a scholarship; Franklin Roberts (Vance) is a Public Defender at Chicago’s Cook County court who’s just received devastating news from his doctors about a potentially lethal cancer. When a drug bust goes wrong in Moses’ neighborhood, leading to the death of a police officer, Moses finds himself at the center of the clash, and Franklin can’t bear another young man from the south side caught up in the system.

During last year’s TCA panel, executive producer and writer Shanks said he hoped to “spark conversation” that would continue to push the U.S. toward “meaningful, sustained change” with regard to systemic injustice, racially motivated police brutality and other issues. “Nothing changes if we don’t continue to talk about it.,” he said.

Cole, Ward-Hammond, Green and O’Brien came through Deadline’s SXSW Studio to talk about how much the Chicago atmosphere influenced their experience on the set of the show, and how much pride there is among the people of the city.

Watch the full interview above.