'Genius: MLK/X' Offers A Glimpse Of The Lives Of Two Visionary Civil Rights Leaders

National Geographic's eight-part series stars Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Aaron Pierre as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, respectively.

National Geographic’s “Genius” series returned for its fourth season earlier this month with “Genius: MLK/X.” The season explores the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X through their “formative years, where they were molded by strong fathers and traumatic injustices, to their rich, parallel stories as they shaped their identities and became the change they wished to see in the world,” according to a series synopsis.

Starring Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Aaron Pierre as King and X, respectively, the eight-episode series explores the civil rights icons as more than the political figures we love and respect.

Audiences will see two young boys who struggled with mental health grow up into powerful and complex men fighting for equality in America. The series provides layered episodes and covers several moments of the icons’ personal lives: X’s humble beginnings and his journey to prison before rising as a minister in the Nation of Islam, and King surviving a suicide attempt at a young age to be a preacher like his father before becoming a leader at the forefront of the civil rights movement.

The series also weaves in their love stories and positions their respective wives, Betty Shabazz (Jayme Lawson) and Coretta Scott King (Weruche Opia), as influential figures in their own right.

“One of the beautiful parts of playing [King] is watching him face adversity and conflict with so much love and grace for himself and the people,” Harrison told HuffPost at the Los Angeles premiere of the series, which was held at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater late last month. “I believe we’re celebrating him because of his choices, and I strive to make better choices and have more faith in myself.”