The Red Line follows three very different Chicago families as they journey toward hope and healing after a tragedy causes them all to consider how race and racial biases affect their lives.
On the north side of Chicago, Daniel Calder is a high school history teacher mourning the death of his husband, an African-American doctor who was shot, while unarmed, by a white cop. As Daniel tries to comfort their grieving daughter, Jira Calder-Brennan, the two butt heads when she decides she needs more support than her father can provide. She seeks the understanding of someone who knows what it’s like to grow up as a young black woman, and searches for her birth mother to learn more about her personal history, culture and community. Daniel seeks comfort in his colleague—and Jira’s teacher—Liam Bhatt.
On the south side, Tia Young scours news of the shooting, torn between her political ambition of running for Alderman and risking it all to comfort the daughter she gave up for adoption as a teen. Tia’s husband, Ethan Young, a red line train operator and devoted father to their 6-year-old son, champions her running for office, but cautions her about connecting with Jira.
On the west side, police officer Paul Evans must face the reality of his actions and intentions in the fatal shooting of an innocent man and worries about his fate amidst the public and legal fallout. His police partner, Victoria “Vic” Renna, and his brother, Jim Evans, a volatile former cop confined to a wheelchair after being shot in the line of duty, cause more harm than good in their attempts to help him. As the stories of the Calder, Young and Evans families converge, they each discover that it’s impossible to ignore issues of race; it’s important for each of us to explore how our backgrounds and internal biases affect how we act, and that we must open our eyes and see that we’re all human and all deserving of the same dignity.
Starring Noah Wyle (ER), Aliyah Royale, Emayatzy Corinealdi (Hand of God), Howard Charles (The Musketeers), Noel Fisher (Shameless), Michael Patrick Thornton (Private Practice), Elizabeth Laidlaw (Boss) and Vinny Chhibber (No Tomorrow).
The Red Line premieres April 28th at 8/7c on CBS. It is an eight-episode original limited series.
