The terror of the Japanese American incarceration camps during World War II comes to life tonight in The Terror: Infamy.
Season 2 of The Terror is set in a concentration camp and centers on a series of bizarre deaths. It stars Derek Nio as Chester Nakayama, an aspiring photographer who hopes to one day leave Terminal Island, CA and travel the country for Life Magazine.
The Terror: Infamy is receiving much buzz because it also features George Takei as Nobuhiro Yamato, the elder statesman of Terminal Island. His devotion to tradition helps keep a community in danger of being torn apart together.
You can meet some of the other characters in the video below.
Takei talks about how his personal experience in an incarceration camp in Arkansas helped to shape Infamy during an interview at San Diego Comic Con.
During a recent question and answer with ABC’s Juju Cheng at the Asian American Journalists Association convention in Atlanta, Takei discussed what it was like to be behind barbed wire at the age of 5.
“It was an exciting adventure, but for my parents to have their bank accounts frozen, losing their home-it was a catastrophic experience,” he said. His family first was ordered to report to Santa Anita Race Track as they awaited their transfer to Rohwer. While at Santa Anita, authorities forced his family to live in a horse stall.
He recalls the smell as being “pungent.” In Takei’s view, this period of history is being repeated again at the southern border as refugee families seeking asylum are being torn apart and children are being separated from their parents.
He hopes with greater awareness, “events like what’s happening on our southern border will not be allowed to happen.”
The Terror: Infamy airs Monday nights on AMC at 9 p.m., 8 Central with a repeat showing at 11:20/10:20 Central.
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