Genius is an anthology series offering a comprehensive look at some of our most influential and inspirational people of our time such as Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, Aretha Franklin, and now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, collectively known as MLK/ X.

Arguably, they are two of the most significant figures of the civil rights movement spanning 1954 through 1968 culminating in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X (born Little) challenged, provoked, yet supported each other during one of the most turbulent and divisive periods in American history. While King advanced racial equality through non-violent protest, Malcolm X argued forcefully for Black empowerment, identity and self-determination.

Arm in arm, they looked outward into the crowd as they forged the path for racial and economic justice. Many films and television shows about their lives relegate the roles of their influential wives, Coretta Scott King and Dr. Betty Shabazz, who were also instrumental in fighting for the cause in their own right.

Genius: MLK/X tracks these visionaries through their formative years, as they defined their identities, mode of activism, and persisted with their goals to achieve lasting equality and social change.

The eight-part series is careful not to rehash the familiar “two heroes, two geniuses” narrative. It needs a unique perspective.

“[Co- executive producer] Reggie [Rock Bythewood] and I talked a lot about this growing up,” says executive producer Gina Prince-Bythewood about the creative decision to weave the MLK/ X stories into one. “So often, we’re told you have to choose between Martin and Malcolm. Who do you identify with? Who do you want to follow? We knew that they were both integral to the movement.”

They both had the same goal, but had different means of going about it – Brian Grazer (Executive Producer)

There are mountains of research which chronicle their lives so having the freedom to make “an eight-hour movie” was a welcome opportunity. “We knew that gave us a space to really open it up. And as we say, ‘Take them off the t-shirts and make them real and tangible.’ And show the full breadth of their humanity,” continues Gina Prince-Bythewood.

One Brief Encounter

King and X only had one official meeting during their lives. MLK/X took a major creative step of markedly departing from this fact in the show.

Martin Luther King Jnr and Malcolm X (Malcolm Little) in 1964. Photo by Marion S. Trikosko/ Universal History Archive/ Getty Images

“Decades ago, Nelson Mandela came to visit the United States. He came to visit Harlem and I was there. There was a moment where Betty Shabazz was introduced to Winnie Mandela. They ran across the stage to each other. They hugged. They held on to each other. And they cried. It’s the one visual that I remember from that moment. That was very impactful,” recalls Reggie Rock Bythewood.

The Meeting – Both Men Are Winners

In 1984, writer Jeff Stetson wrote a play called The Meeting about a fictitious meeting between Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in a Harlem hotel room in 1965 on Valentine’s Day, one week before his assasination, further inspired the series. He also wrote the pilot of the series.

A key function of the play was to address the idea of a preferred narrative and their conflict. Stetson chose to portray them as collaborators with opposing approaches.

“I wrote the play, because this country has a tendency to pit one leader against another, and it reduces its very complex issues.” states Stetson. “The civil rights period technically lasted ten years, from 1954 to 1964, as if civil rights happens at a particular date or ends at a particular date. They saw Martin as the dreamer, who saw freedom and justice through non-violence. And they saw Malcolm as the revolutionary, who saw freedom by any means necessary.” Both are needed.

No dreamer who wants justice doesn’t understand that it comes with a revolution.
And no revolutionary can be a revolutionary without understanding the vision of the dream – Jeff Stetson

Stetson was concerned that if he wrote a play solely about Martin or Luther, it would only attract the audience that liked one or the other. “My goal was to form a structure where people with very different views and very different backgrounds could somehow be inspired by these two men,” continues Stetson.

“I use a literary device where Malcolm is really hard on Dr. King for about 15 or 20 minutes because he wants this man to understand that if you commit so many to non-violence, everyone’s going to get killed. So, after about 20 minutes of arguing, they sit at the table, they reach out in their hands and they go into an arm wrestle. Malcolm wins.”

“Another 20 minutes further in the play, King has had enough and says, ‘OK, let’s have a rematch, which amuses Malcolm because he’s prepared to inflict suffering if Dr. King is prepared to endure it. And this time Dr. King wins.”

“At the end of the play, there’s a resolution where these men understand that the battle is not about some esoterical thing. It’s about family. It’s about love. It’s about community.”

“And they decide, ‘Let’s do another arm wrestle and declare a winner. And this time they really go at it. It looks like Malcolm’s going to win. It looks like Dr. King is going to win. And finally, they just can’t take it when they call a truce.”

“What’s interesting about that dynamic, which is why I think it’s at the heart of the series, is that by that time in the play, the audience doesn’t want either man to lose. And, if possible, they want both men to win. And when that arm wrestle is over, Dr. King looks at a tired Malcolm rubbing his hand and says, ‘Just imagine what we could have accomplished if we had joined hands and moved in the same direction?”

“The series captures that as its essence. The gaze shifts. It’s not Malcolm and Martin looking across at each other. It’s Malcolm and Martin looking at this problem that our country has been born in and continues to grapple with.”

Historical Research

The facts examined in MLK/ X were drawn from a variety of credible sources each with its own point of view.

“It was very exhaustive, but it was something that was necessary for us to do. Before we put pen to pad, we had a think tank for over a month. And what we really wanted to do was gain as much information as we possibly could to be able to tell the story about Martin and Malcolm and Betty and Coretta from a humanistic standpoint,” claim executive producers Raphael Jackson Jr. and Damione Macedon.

Martin Luther King (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) & Coretta Scott King (Weruche Opia) Photo by Richard DuCree/ National Geographic

“We had people like Peniele Joseph, who wrote the book Sword In The Shield and Dr. Camille Joseph. We had Dr. Barbara Reynolds. And each person gave us a wealth of knowledge so we were able to pick and choose to see what we can impart within the series so that hopefully the audience can see something within themselves during that.”

Many things were  a discovery for them. They went into the process with open minds and were constantly surprised with background information they weren’t aware of.

“Everything from the fact that Martin and Malcolm both loved ice cream to Coretta’s passion for singing were things that came out of that think tank and made it to the screen. It helped bring them to life because they were not just the civil rights icons, but they were human beings. And so, that’s what we chased and helped us to create the thematic engine of the story.”

It reinforces the fact that both these men were so young and neither lived past forty.

King was twenty-six when the Montgomery Bus Boycott happened. “Soon after, he became the president of the Montgomery Improvement Association. He probably didn’t really know what was next. He also was terrified. He also had anxiety, fear and imposter syndrome, as if he hadn’t earned what his father clearly decided that he did,” says actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. who plays Dr. King in the series.

Character Relationships

The scene at the podium between Martin and Malcolm was pivotal in defining their relationship. “You were trying to capture the moments before, the moments in between, and the moments of him being him rather than him being a civil rights leader,” continues Harrison.

The stories of their wives, despite being less documented, are no less important in the movement.

Coretta Scott King was involved in the civil rights movement for longer than she was MLK’s wife

Coretta (Weruche Opia) received more media coverage than Betty Shabazz (Jayme Lawson) by virtue of her being an opera singer. “Not as many people really knew her, even though she went on to found an organization and went on to get a PhD and carry Malcolm’s work forward in the same way that Coretta did,” says Lawson.

Betty Shabazz (Jayme Lawson) & Malcom X (Aaron Pierre) Photo by Richard DuCree/ National Geographic

Lawson was particularly inspired by a children’s book called Before Betty X that one of her daughters wrote, fictionalizing the life of their mother from the time she was born up until her early teens. “And the moment I got that book I said, ‘I found her because I found the little girl.’ And I felt, as a woman, we all carried the little girl into every room we walk into. And I knew that if I could find that little girl in Dr. Betty Shabazz, then I could craft the woman. I could really figure out knowing what she longs for, what she aches for, how she desires to be of service,” she explains.

We see not only Malcolm and Martin as children, but we see Coretta and Betty as children as well. And they had a life prior to that moment. So seeing the full arc of all of them and their coming together is a new angle. Thorough research also allowed the creatives to meaningfully fill in the gaps of the story

“I was thinking about how can we visually separate these two icons, but still find commonalities in them,” says co-executive producer/ director Channing Godfrey Peoples.

“King had more of a middle class story. And you saw he was dressed to the nines. But in Malcolm’s world, he grew up in a more rural setting. So we saw more of the salt of the earth.”

Struggle is a never-ending process.
Freedom is never really won.
You earn it and win it in every generation.

– Coretta Scott King