Damian Marcano (producer, director) and Sherman Payne (showrunner, producer, writer) spoke with MovieWeb’s Will Sayre about their new series, Emperor of Ocean Park. The political conspiracy thriller about a Black family caught up in judicial intrigue after their patriarch (Forest Whitaker) dies is now streaming on MGM+.

Emperor of Ocean Park is set in the worlds of politics, elite academia, and the beaches of Martha’s Vineyard. It follows Talcott Garland (Grantham Coleman), an esteemed law professor whose quiet life is shattered when his father, Judge Oliver Garland, dies of an apparent heart attack. The nature of the judge’s death is questioned by Tal’s sister, Mariah, a former journalist and inveterate conspiracy theorist, who believes that the judge, a failed Black nominee to the Supreme Court, met with foul play.

Based on author and law professor Stephen L. Carter’s best-selling novel, Emperor of Ocean Park is produced by John Wells Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, where John Wells Productions is under an overall deal. John Wells, Sherman Payne, Damian Marcano, Shukree Tilghman, and John Wells Productions’ Erin Jontow serve as executive producers. Payne, who also serves as showrunner, wrote the first episode, which is directed by Marcano.

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