The Story

“It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others,
of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity.
One ever feels his two-ness—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body,
whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”
– W.E.B. Du Bois

Inspired by Nella Larsen’s acclaimed novel, Passing is set during the cultural and intellectual explosion of the Harlem Renaissance. In this series, Irene Redfield, an African-American socialite, runs into her reckless childhood friend, Clare Kendry, while both women pass for white on Fifth Avenue. Irene unwittingly joins Clare’s deadly game of blurring the boundaries of race and class that threatens the social order of 1920s America.

Passing is a hauntingly modern story. By bringing this series to the screen, we inject our audience at the color line and the threshold of identity politics. The gravitational pull of America’s most famous neighborhood during its most famous era is always present in the cultural zeitgeist. We have not seen an authentic portrayal of this America yet on television.

Our show is Downton Abbey meets Get Out.