#Netflix casts Jaden Michael as young Colin Kaepernick

Michael will play the NFL quarterback and civil rights activist in the upcoming series “Colin in Black & White,” and Ava DuVernay will direct the first episode.

The six-episode series will follow Kaepernick’s childhood as a young African-American teen growing up in a white adoptive family and how his experiences shaped both his football talent and his activist work.

Jaden Michael, 17, is best known for Baz Luhrmann’s Netflix series “The Get Down” and he’s also appeared in episodes of “Gotham” and “Blue Bloods.”

Kaepernick, 32, who played for the San Francisco 49ers for six seasons, first came to widespread media attention for kneeling during the National Anthem to peacefully protest police brutality against the black community and systemic racism in 2016. He became a free agent without a team from 2017 to the present, and it’s commonly said that he was blackballed. It’s become a hot point of contention, with various ex-NFLers speaking out about it. He filed a lawsuit against the league for keeping him from playing before reaching a settlement in 2019.

Ironically, during the renewed worldwide surge of the Black Lives Matter movement this summer following the killing of George Floyd in police custody, NFL teams all made statements affirming their support of Black Lives Matter — including Kaepernick’s former team, the 49ers.

He will executive produce the series alongside DuVernay, and it will be written by Michael Starrbury (“When They See Us”).

“Colin in Black & White” does not yet have a premiere date.