Forest Whitaker takes command in the new series “Emperor of Ocean Park”

I love watching actor Forest Whitaker. He always plays a range of exciting and challenging characters. His previous films include Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, a celebrated warrior in Black Panther, the head butler in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Big George Foreman and most recently a conflicted family man and boss in The Godfather of Harlem.

Now he returns to MGM+ streaming to play a celebrated lawyer in “Emperor of Ocean Park,” set in the world of politics, elite Ivy League academia and the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard.

This dramatic fairy tale in ten episodes is based on the 2002 bestselling novel by black author and Yale Law School professor Stephen L. Carter.

The film centers on Talcott Garland (Grantham Coleman), a law professor at an elite university whose quiet life is shattered when his father, Judge Oliver Garland (Whitaker), dies of an apparent heart attack. Talcott’s sister Mariah (Tiffany Mack), a former journalist and diehard conspiracy theorist, questions the judge’s cause of death. She believes that the judge, a failed black Supreme Court nominee, was the victim of a crime.

“‘Emperor of Ocean Park’ is much more than a crime thriller,” said Michael Wright, head of MGM+, in a statement. “While it is a gripping crime story, it also tackles important themes of middle- and upper-class black identity, making it an excellent addition to MGM+’s slate of thrilling and thought-provoking original series.”

As you can tell from the initial situation, this is a wealthy family; all three grown-up children have a lot to do. But when Oliver dies, his family is left with a mysterious request regarding the so-called “arrangements” made by the judge in the event of his death and a missing chess piece. Talcott is pursued by a former old friend of the family, who now seems to have sinister intentions.

The series begins in 2007 and continues to the present day. The judge has met some shady characters over the course of his career – one of whom had connections to the CIA.

Oliver has a right-wing extremist attitude, and this seems to work against him in the sequences of the past few days. But all in all, he was probably in good health at the time of his untimely death.

The everyday life of the family members is further burdened by the fact that the older son is more concerned with his own affairs with women and Mariah apparently wants to score points with her employer.

But Mariah and Talcott go in, even though he narrowly escaped a car explosion and they are apparently still being followed by unknown assailants.

I enjoyed watching this middle-class family commute between their two homes, with a background that could only be the University of Chicago.

“I am thrilled to play Judge Oliver Garland and thank John Wells, Sherman Payne and Michael Wright for this opportunity to join the cast and crew of ‘Emperor of Ocean Park’ as we bring Stephen L. Carter’s extraordinary novel to life,” said Whitaker. diversity magazine

“He (Judge Garland) is stern, intelligent, calculating and proud. As a black man in America navigating inhospitable and often hostile environments, he has developed a hard shell that serves as a protective shield. He is a devoted father whose commitment to his family simultaneously reinforces and undermines his deeply held conservative principles,” the promotional material says.

According to reports, some filming has been completed in Chicago. For the few episodes that the Chicago Crusaders “Emperor of Ocean Park,” which we were able to see in advance, is an incredibly exciting thriller starring experienced actor Forest Whitaker.

The premiere of the first episode of “Emperor of Ocean Park” is scheduled for July 14 on MGM+. New episodes will air on Sundays until September 15.