When They See Us is a drama miniseries that was released on Netflix last May. The show was directed by Ava DuVernay. The program explores the 1989 assault and rape of a jogger in Central Park, and the five young men who were falsely charged with the crime.
The group became known as the Central Park Five. The program was nominated for seven Prime Time Emmy awards (winning one) and for five Creative Emmy Awards, also winning one. The show was well maid, well-received, and worth viewing even a year later. But here are a few things that may not be obvious about the show right away.
Ava DuVernay
While most people are aware that acclaimed director Ava DuVernay directed the mini-series, what may not be as obvious is that DuVernay also co-wrote the entire program for Netflix. This was more than just a job, but a ion project. She both directed and co-wrote all four episodes of the drama series and was nominated for outstanding director of a movie for television or limited series by The Directors Guild, as well as nominated directing and writing at the Prime Time Emmys.
Title
The miniseries was officially named, and is known as, When They See Us; however, the show was originally slated to be called The Central Park Five. This was the title in the 2017 announcement when Netflix officially gave the show a series order (originally for five episodes). In March of 2019, two months before the show was set to premiere, director Ava Duvernay announced the name change to When They See Us.
Maximum
While the suffering of all five of the young men wrongly sentenced for the crime in When They See Us, is clear, what may not be as clear is the fact that every defendant received the maximum possible sentence from the judge in their cases. Korey, as seen on the show, is obviously the only one sentenced as an adult and forced to serve his entire term outside the juvenile system, but each one of the five received the maximum punishment allowable for their alleged involvement in the crime.
Vacated From Court
Officially Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise were not exonerated, but vacated from court. Vacated from court means that those who were originally convicted are treated as though no trial ever took place in the first place.
While this clears their record, it doesn't exactly acknowledge what they went through in prison much less what they went through while facing trial as children and teenagers.
Settlement
All five of the men, once released and vacated, finally received a settlement from the city of New York in 2014. All five claimed wrongful convictions and emotional distress. The city settled, some twenty years after the crime, and the convictions took place. The city paid out $41 million. The five also sued the State of New York, as well as the City. The State of New York didn't settle until 2016, paying out almost $4 million as well.
Defamation
Recently, in March of 2020, Linda Fairstein, portrayed in the miniseries by Felicity Huffman, and former prosecutor of the Central Park Five case sued Netflix and Ava DuVernay for defamation based on how she was portrayed in the series. The case is ongoing. The former prosecutor also believes that while the Central Park Five should have been vacated of their rape conviction they should not have had the other smaller crimes dropped as well.
Two Auditions, Two Parts
Jharrel Jerome, who won the Prime Time Emmy for best actor for his portrayal of Korey Wise, auditioned twice for Ava Duvernay and her team. When he came in to read for the role of young Korey he was sporting a beard and was afraid it would make him look too old for the part. He returned to read again, this time clean-shaven, and so impressed the team that he was not only cast as young Korey, but was the only actor to play both the young and adult version of his character.
Real Life Loss
Antron McCray made it out of prison and was able to unite with his family, but his mother, Linda McCray ed away before she was able to see the Duvernay miniseries about the life of her son.
In the show, Linda was portrayed by Marsha Stephanie Blake, and Antron was portrayed by Caleel Harris (as a teen) and Jovan Adepo (as an adult). Antron, however, was able to see the series and reunite with "The Exonerated Five" when the show premiered.
Missing Details
While When They See Us does go into great detail for certain scenes (working off of actual interview tapes for the scenes where the boys are interrogated by police) some details had to be left out. For example, in real life, Kevin Richardson's mother had a medical emergency while her son was in court. Asante Blackk, who portrayed young Kevin in the series said, "This wasn't in the series, but in the verdict scene Kevin's mom actually had a stroke in that courtroom when they were reading this guilty conviction."
Parental Relationships
Raymond Santana (played by Marquis Rodriguez and Freddy Miyares ) had a very tense and emotional relationship with his father on-screen (his dad was played by John Leguizamo). However, in real life, Raymond has a very good relationship with his father, though they both regret all the time they missed together to build more of a relationship due to Raymond being falsely convicted.