“Underground” star Aisha Hinds didn’t feel out of sorts at all despite coming into the show for its second season.
“Joining the show in its second season, I felt like I was coming into this huge family reunion and the fans were a huge part of that,” Hinds told TheWrap’s Stuart Brazell.
Hinds is set to play legendary Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman in a recurring guest star role — Tubman’s first appearance came in the show’s Season 1 finale, albeit played by a different actress.
Born a slave in 1822, Tubman escaped into the North in 1849. She conducted 13 daring missions back into the south, ultimately freeing 70 slaves and leading them to freedom first in Northern states, then Canada after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act. She would later serve as a spy and scout for Union forces in the American Civil War.
Hinds studied up on Tubman rigorously for the role, and learned some surprising facts, like the fact that Tubman suffered from narcolepsy.
“I had no idea,” she said. “I never would have thought she would be able to do the things that she did knowing that at any moment and every moment she fell asleep without any warning and would wake back up–mid-sentence she would fall asleep, wake back up and be right back into the conversation as if nothing.”
“Underground” Season 2 will premiere on March 8 on WGN America.