The Trailer For New Series ‘Dickinson’ Is Full Of Poetry, Rappers And Romance
Featuring Wiz Khalifa as Death.
Emily Dickinson is one of the major poets of the 20th century. Yet still to this very day, she doesn’t get her dues in the court of public opinion.
Indeed, Dickinson is usually reduced to something like poetry’s version of the one hit wonder. She’s well-known for her verse ‘Because I Could Not Stop For Death’, used to torture high school students around the globe. But the rest of her vast and eclectic back catalogue is usually ignored. Which is a crying shame, given that hers is some of the most romantic, passionate and intelligence verse of the last 200 years.
Well, looks like the tides of Dickinson’s reputation may be changing. Fingers crossed the poet is about to get a huge upswing via the forthcoming Apple TV series Dickinson, based on the story of her life and starring Hailee Steinfeld.
Focussing specific on her coming of age, the series sees the young Dickinson come up against the insufferably stuffy men who would deign to tell her that women are not allowed to be poets. To that end, all those worried that this will be just another dry costume drama need check in their concerns at the door: from the first look, the show seems thrillingly modern, full of knowing winks to our (increasingly desperate and troubled) times.
Oh, there’s also the matter of actual, honest-to-God Death making an appearance. Yep, the star of Dickinson’s most famous poem makes a frequent appearance in the series, played — unbelievably — by rapper Wiz Khalifa.
That’s not the end of the cameos either, as early casting news made it clear that the internet’s favourite comedian John Mulaney is set to play environmentalist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau.
Sounds good to me. Watch the trailer in all its subversive glory below, and await for the series release on November 1.