Roots remake 'was a supremely frightening proposition,' says producer

Based on the best-selling novel by Alex Haley, Roots recounts the journey of one family’s will to survive, endure, and ultimately carry on their legacy despite enormous hardship and inhumanity.

Revealing why it was necessary to tell this story again, LeVar Burton, who is the producer of the mini-series, explained that it is important to remind human beings of the past.

"Human beings have very short memories, and they say about history that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it," he said in a press Q&A.

"This is a story that is part and parcel of the civilisation of this planet. As such, it’s a story that we need to retain in our very souls, so that we do not repeat the horrors, the atrocities of a slave trade."

Having played the original Kunta Kinte, LeVar opened up about how the experience of filming the remake has been different, despite the fact that it's the same project.

"I’ve come back to this same place, with this same project, but with a whole new cast of characters, both in front of and behind the camera.

"Even though the story is intimately familiar to me, it feels very different, very different," he revealed.

LeVar further claimed that finding a Kunta Kinte for the new version of Roots wasn't an easy task.

"There was an exhaustive search: Several continents, several months. New York, London, Los Angeles, all over the world we looked, and we found the right actor in Malachi Kirby."

Shepherding the project alongside Will Packer and LeVar Burton, Mark Wolper - who is the son of the original producer of the miniseries, David L. Wolper - explained the mammoth pressure and fear that came with remaking the TV drama, given that the initial Roots had such a global impact.

"It’s been a burden, the decision to even contemplate doing this again," he said.

"I was afraid to try to do, first of all, what my father had done, to walk in the shadow or footsteps of my father. It was a supremely frightening proposition, and so I resisted, for many, many years, doing it, in spite of very smart programmers coming and saying, 'Please, we need to do Roots again,' I resisted it and consistently said ‘no’."

However, it was only until four years ago when he gave in and realised that he has to get over his fear and try to create the drama again. This idea was prompted by his16-year-old son, who was reluctant to watch the initial Roots that was created in 1977, as he could not relate to it.

"There’s a whole new generation, a whole new group of people around this world that don’t know the story, that didn’t see the story, and need to see the story, because these people that they’re talking about right here are real people."