A+E Networks has cast Forest Whitaker and Anna Paquin to star in its reboot of 1970s miniseries Roots, the company said Wednesday.
Whitaker (Lee Daniels’ The Butler) will star as Fiddler, a mentor to Roots main character Kunta Kinte in the mini-series remake, said network officials. Pacquin (True Blood) will play the wife of a Confederate officer who has her own agenda when it comes to the handling of slaves.
Also starring in the miniseries will be Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) Anika Noni Rose (Dream Girls, The Good Wife, The Princess and the Frog), Chad L. Coleman (The Walking Dead, The Wire), Erica Tazel (Justified) and Derek Luke (Captain America: The First Avenger, Antwone Fisher)
Newcomers Malachi Kirby and Regé-Jean Page (Survivor, Waterloo) will star as main characters Kunta Kinte and Chicken George respectively, said A+E.
They new castmembers join previously announced Laurence Fishburne (Black-ish) as Alex Haley, the author of the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family.
