'Moonlight's' Jharrel Jerome And 'Fences' Actor Jovan Adepo Join Ava DuVernay's 'Central Park Five'

Ava Duvernay’s upcoming Central Park Five miniseries has found its Korey Wise and Antron McCray.

Moonlight actor Jharrel Jerome will portray Wise with Fences actor Jovan Adepo playing McCray. The announcement came Wednesday after Netflix’s Strong Black Lead broke the news. 

It was announced last year that DuVernay would tackle the story of five young Black men wrongfully convicted of raping Trisha Meili in Central Park in 1989. 

In a statement about the five-part miniseries, the award-winning director said, “I had an extraordinary experience working with Netflix on 13th and am overjoyed to continue this exploration of the criminal justice system as a narrative project with Cindy Holland and the team there. The story of the men known as the Central Park Five has riveted me for more than two decades. In their journey, we witness five innocent young men of color who were met with injustice at every turn — from coerced confessions to unjust incarceration to public calls for their execution by the man who would go on to be the president of the United States.”

Earlier this year, DuVernay also called out Donald Trump over his comments about due process. Trump was vocal about the Central Park Five’s guilt at the time of the trial and, despite evidence to the contrary, still maintains they are guilty. 

Michael K. Williams also joined the film earlier this month as Bobby McCray, father of Antron.