Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us earned tons of praise from fans and critics upon its release and rightfully so.
The acclaimed series told the true story of the Central Park Five: Korey Wise, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray, and Kevin Richardson, five teenage boys who were wrongfully convicted of raping jogger Trisha Meili in 1989. The men were later exonerated in 2002 after spending between 6 and 13 years in prison. Today, they are known as “The Exonerated Five.”
When They See Us‘s young stars Jharrel Jerome, Asante Blackk, Ethan Herisse, Caleel Harris and Marquis Rodriguez gave incredible performances as the five, and rightfully caught the attention of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
On Tuesday, the series landed a whopping 16 nominations, including Outstanding Limited Series, lead acting noms for Jerome, Aunjanue Ellis and Niecy Nash, and a directing nomination for DuVernay.
“It all started here. Thank you to the real men for inviting me to tell their story. Thank you @TelevisionAcad for honoring the work. Saluting every single crew and cast member. And saluting Raymond, Korey, Antron, Yusef, and Kevin. Love you, brothers,” the DuVernay tweeted following the news.
Jerome celebrated his nomination on Instagram, writing, “Blessed, honored, bewildered, shocked. I’ll have better words to say a little later but right now I can’t breathe, I LOVE YOU FAM.”
When They See Us is one of Netflix’s most popular series, streaming from more than 23 million accounts.