Overview
The Knick is an American medical period drama television series on Cinemax created by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler and directed by Steven Soderbergh. The series follows Dr. John W. Thackery (Clive Owen) and the staff at a fictionalized version of the Knickerbocker Hospital (the Knick) in New York during the early twentieth century. Amiel and Begler wrote the majority of the episodes and are executive producers. Owen, Soderbergh, Gregory Jacobs, and Michael Sugar (Anonymous Content) were executive producers. Steven Katz was the supervising producer and also writer, Michael Polaire was the producer and David Kirchner the associate producer.
The show premiered on Cinemax on August 8, 2014. On July 10, 2014, Cinemax renewed The Knick for a ten-episode second season, which premiered on October 16, 2015. In March 2017, Cinemax announced the series was canceled.
In September 2020, Soderbergh confirmed that a new season of The Knick is in development led by Barry Jenkins and André Holland, who would return as his character Dr. Algernon C. Edwards, and that original creators Jack Amiel and Michael Begler have written a pilot episode.
Premise
In New York City in 1900, the Knickerbocker Hospital operates with inventive surgeons, nurses and staff who struggle against the limitations of medical understanding and practice, to minimize morbidity and mortality. Dr. John Thackery (partially based on historical figure William Stewart Halsted), the new leader of the surgery staff, balances his cocaine and opium addictions against his ambition for medical discovery and his reputation among his peers. Dr. Algernon Edwards, a Harvard-educated Black American surgeon (probably based on the historical Daniel Hale Williams and Louis T. Wright) who trained in Paris, and is much more qualified than any other candidate, must fight for respect among the all-white hospital staff, as well as in the racially charged city. While struggling to keep the lights on, the hospital attempts to attract a wealthy clientele, without sacrificing quality of care.
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