There is so much more to becoming “unprisoned” than fighting the inequalities of the American judicial system.
As Season 2 of Hulu’s Onyx Collective series UnPrisoned is underway, star Kerry Washington explores a world where people are healing their families through her character Paige, and a story “inspired by some truly crazy s**t.”
“There’s so much awareness that we need to have when it comes to healing generational trauma and realizing that it’s not always about trauma with a capital ‘T’, right? That it is about just kind of the ways that we talk to each other, the ways that we communicate the family dynamics,” Washington, who also serves as an executive producer on the show, said to Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “I think that’s one of the reasons why this show is so special because it’s not just about how challenging it is for returning citizens, which that would be enough if that’s all the show was about. But it’s also the ripple effect of how the challenges that returning citizens face, how those challenges impact the family, and how, when a person goes into the system, it’s not just that person who becomes imprisoned. All of the people that love them become imprisoned, mentally and emotionally.”
Loosely based on the life of renowned author and relationship expert Tracy McMillan, UnPrisoned’s second season is about making a better family, according to the Minneapolis native who serves as a series executive producer and writer.
“There’s something about taking your story and stepping outside of it, that allows you to get some distance, and that allows you to maybe hold it just a little more light,” McMillan said. “Also, there’s something about sharing a story with other people and having them go, ‘Oh, that helped me,’ that also helps me. So, we can’t undo the past, but we can make meaning out of it and humor, and so that’s the goal.”
As fans continue to follow Paige’s journey to a better relationship with her father, Edwin (Delroy Lindo), and son, Finn (Faly Rakotohavana), Washington said the entire family is on a mission to become free this season.
“So I feel like Paige spent a lot of the first season kind of figuring out that she maybe doesn’t have the best boundaries, and she maybe doesn’t have the right answers when it comes to dating and picking who she involves herself with,” Washington said. “It’s a great place to land at the end of the season, but I think in Season 2, we see her realizing that you also can’t walk through life with your walls up all the time. So she starts to try to figure out how to feel as safe in intimacy with the people who matter to her as she does in a boundary lifestyle. So we’ll see her put herself outside her comfort zone in a lot of ways that wind up being really funny, like she’s taking a pole dancing class. She’s online dating; she’s experimenting with people of the same sex. She’s also going out of her comfort zone in terms of how she supports her dad and how she supports her son by being willing to entertain him having more of a relationship with his father.”
“The whole family is trying to really get free and be the best possible versions of themselves, and as we do with our show, there’s a lot of truth and a lot of raw, emotional deep dives, but also just a lot of joy and laughter and fun,“ the Scandal star continued.
Fans fell in love with Little Paige (Jordyn McIntosh) during UnPrisoned‘s first season and can anticipate much more from her in the new installment.
“Little Paige represents that part of us that has never been hurt by anything, that part of us that knows us, that knows what we’re capable of, that part that’s highest,” McMillan said. “And if we partner with that part of ourselves, we can set ourselves free. There’s another version where you don’t want to hear what she has to say, and then you’re gonna keep repeating things over and over. So I just think Little Paige is such a huge part, and that relationship you have with your inner child is such a huge part of your ability to take risks, make choices, and move through the world in a new way.”
Season 2 of UnPrisoned is now streaming on Hulu.
