Where to watch
Each link opens a search on that service. Checked 13 October 2026.
Streaming data from JustWatch
Genius
2017–2024
· TV Show
· 50 min episodes
· 4 seasons
C
MEANRANK
69/100
Every rating
59–82
out of 100
Mostly agreed
Lowest is Metacritic users on 59, highest is IMDb on 82.
See the TV shows the platforms disagree about most →The life stories of history's greatest minds, from their days as young adults to their final years: their discoveries, loves, relationships, causes, flaws and genius.
Details
- Created by
- Jeff Stetson, Kenneth Biller, Noah Pink, Suzan-Lori Parks
- Studio
- EUE / Sokolow Entertainment, Imagine Television Studios, OddLot Entertainment, 20th Television
- Released
- 25 April 2017
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Episode length
- 50 min
- Rated
- TV-14
- Episodes
- 36 across 4 seasons
- Awards
- 13 wins, 50 nominations
This title elsewhere
Cast
Full cast (143) →Awards & nominations
See all 63 →2 major awards won · 13 wins from 63 nominations across 13 ceremonies
| Primetime Emmy Awards 2018 | Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Limited Series or Movie | Bob Bronow, Mark Hensley, Tamás Csaba (for "Chapter One") | Winner |
| Primetime Emmy Awards 2018 | Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited Series or Movie | Mathias Herndl (for "Chapter One") | Winner |
| Critics' Choice Television Awards 2025 | Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television | Ron Cephas Jones | Nominee |
| Critics' Choice Television Awards 2022 | Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries | Cynthia Erivo | Nominee |
| Critics' Choice Television Awards 2022 | Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries | Courtney B. Vance | Nominee |
| Golden Globe Awards 2022 | Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film | Cynthia Erivo | Nominee |
| Screen Actors Guild Awards 2022 | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie | Cynthia Erivo | Nominee |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards 2021 | Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Dan Brennan, Ken Hahn and Jay Meagher (for "Respect") | Nominee |
Awards from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
More like this
Beyond the numbers
All lists →Just released
See all →Coming soon
Trailer — Genius
×Full cast — Genius
×63 awards — Genius
×
Primetime Emmy Awards
18 nominations, 2 won
| Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited Series or Movie | Mathias Herndl (for "Chapter One") | Winner |
| Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Limited Series or Movie | Bob Bronow, Mark Hensley, Tamás Csaba (for "Chapter One") | Winner |
| Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special | Ron Howard | Nominee |
| Outstanding Hairstyling for a Limited Series or Movie | Kate Starr, Alex Rouse, Judit Halasz, Janosne Kajtar | Nominee |
| Outstanding Hairstyling for a Limited Series or Movie | Tash Lees, Fae Hammond, Adela Robova, Alex Rouse | Nominee |
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie | Antonio Banderas | Nominee |
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie | Geoffrey Rush | Nominee |
| Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Cynthia Erivo | Nominee |
| Outstanding Limited Series | Genius: Picasso | Nominee |
| Outstanding Limited Series | Genius | Nominee |
| Outstanding Main Title Theme Music | Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe | Nominee |
| Outstanding Makeup for a Limited Series or Movie (Non-Prosthetic) | Davina Lamont, Hayden Bloomfield, Szandra Biro, Szilvia Homolya | Nominee |
| Outstanding Makeup for a Limited Series or Movie (Non-Prosthetic) | Davina Lamont | Nominee |
| Outstanding Period Costumes | Sonu Mishra, Eudald Magari, Balazs Labancz (for "Chapter One") | Nominee |
| Outstanding Period/Fantasy Costumes for a Series, Limited Series, or Movie | Sonu Mishra, Martina Hejlova, Petia Krckova | Nominee |
| Outstanding Sound Editing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special | Daniel Pagan, Erich Gann, Arielle McGrail, Bill Bell, Nicholas Fitzgerald, Tim Chilton, Jill Sanders | Nominee |
| Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Limited Series or Movie | Bob Bronow, Mark Hensley, Petr Forejt | Nominee |
| Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role | Eric Durst, Lenka Líkařová, Viktor Muller, Marek Ruth, Tomáš Kalhous, Lukáš Herrmann, Pavel Kolář, Petr Hastík, Vit Komrzý | Nominee |
Critics' Choice Television Awards
3 nominations
| Best Actress in a Movie/Miniseries | Cynthia Erivo | Nominee |
| Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television | Ron Cephas Jones | Nominee |
| Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries | Courtney B. Vance | Nominee |
Screen Actors Guild Awards
3 nominations
| Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie | Cynthia Erivo | Nominee |
| Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie | Antonio Banderas | Nominee |
| Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series | Geoffrey Rush | Nominee |
Golden Globe Awards
2 nominations
| Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film | Geoffrey Rush | Nominee |
| Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film | Cynthia Erivo | Nominee |
Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards
2 nominations
| Outstanding Choreography for Scripted Programming | Dondraico Johnson (Routines: "Jump" / "Satisfaction" / "See Saw") | Nominee |
| Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Dan Brennan, Ken Hahn and Jay Meagher (for "Respect") | Nominee |
Black Reel Awards
16 nominations, 7 won
| Outstanding Costume Design | Mercedes Cook | Winner |
| Outstanding Directing in a TV Movie or Limited Series | Channing Godfrey Peoples (for "Graduation") | Winner |
| Outstanding Editing | Libya El-Amin | Winner |
| Outstanding Makeup & Hairstyling | Jeremy Dell and Jessi Dean | Winner |
| Outstanding Musical Score | Terence Blanchard | Winner |
| Outstanding Original Song | "Change the World" ( Written and performed by Aloe Blacc and Blu ) | Winner |
| Outstanding Writing in a TV Movie or Limited Series | Sigrid Gilmer (for "Matriarchs") | Winner |
| Outstanding Actress, TV Movie/Limited Series | Cynthia Erivo | Nominee |
| Outstanding Cinematography | Joe Jody Williams | Nominee |
| Outstanding Lead Performance in a TV Movie/Limited Series | Kelvin Harrison Jr. | Nominee |
| Outstanding Lead Performance in a TV Movie/Limited Series | Aaron Pierre | Nominee |
| Outstanding Music Supervision | Amani K. Smith | Nominee |
| Outstanding Supporting Actor, TV Movie/Limited Series | Courtney B. Vance | Nominee |
| Outstanding Supporting Performance in a TV Movie/Limited Series | Ron Cephas Jones | Nominee |
| Outstanding Television Movie or Limited Series | Genius: MLK/X | Nominee |
| Outstanding Writing in a TV Movie or Limited Series | Jeff Stetson (for "Graduation") | Nominee |
NAACP Image Awards
12 nominations, 1 won
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Television Movie, Limited-Series or Dramatic Special | Courtney B. Vance | Winner |
| Outstanding Actor in a Limited Television (Series, Special or Movie) | Kelvin Harrison Jr. | Nominee |
| Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Limited-Series or Dramatic Special | Cynthia Erivo | Nominee |
| Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series | Marta Cunningham (for "Protect Us") | Nominee |
| Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series | Marta Cunningham (for "Who We Are") | Nominee |
| Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series | Anthony Hemingway (for "Respect") | Nominee |
| Outstanding Limited Television (Series, Special or Movie) | Genius: MLK/X | Nominee |
| Outstanding Soundtrack/Compilation Album | Genius: MLK/X (Songs from the Original Series) | Nominee |
| Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Television (Series, Special or Movie) | Ron Cephas Jones | Nominee |
| Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Television (Series, Special or Movie) | Jayme Lawson | Nominee |
| Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Television Movie, Limited-Series or Dramatic Special | Pauletta Washington | Nominee |
| Outstanding Television Movie, Limited-Series or Dramatic Special | Genius: Aretha | Nominee |
American Society of Cinematographers Awards
1 nomination, 1 won
| Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Television Movie, Miniseries or Pilot | Mathias Herndl (for "Chapter One") | Winner |
Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards
1 nomination, 1 won
| Best Period and/or Character Hair Styling | Louisa V. Anthony, Tracey Moss, Victor Paz | Winner |
ReFrame Stamp
1 nomination, 1 won
| IMDbPro Top 200 Scripted TV Recipients | Genius: Aretha | Winner |
Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards
2 nominations
| Best Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Movie | Cynthia Erivo | Nominee |
| Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Television Movie | Courtney B. Vance | Nominee |
Hollywood Music in Media Awards
1 nomination
| Main Title Theme – TV Show/Limited Series | Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe | Nominee |
Satellite Awards
1 nomination
| Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film | Cynthia Erivo | Nominee |