WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Duster season 1, episode 1.
Rachel Hilson’s FBI agent character inDusterseason 1 honors the legacy of several prolific black women FBI agents, including the first to ever do it. Co-created by J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan,Dusteris a 1970s throwback crime thrillerseries streaming exclusively on the newly rebranded HBO Max. Hilson leads thecast ofDusterseason 1with Josh Holloway, best known for playing Sawyer on Abrams' breakout hit TV seriesLost. By the end ofDusterseason 1, episode 1, Holloway’s Jim Ellis, a stylish mafia getaway driver, agrees to become Nina Hayes’s (Hilson) FBI informant to discover the truth about his brother’s death.
Hilson’s Nina shoots like a rocket out of Baltimore and then Quantico into the criminal underworld of 1972 Phoenix, Arizona. Keith David’s Ezra Saxon, “the Al Capone of the Southwest” inDuster, is also Jim’s boss, which is why Nina wants to entice Jim to become her unlikely partner. On just her second day on the job, Nina tries to extort Jim for illegally transporting a human organ over state lines, which saves the life of Saxon’s son, Royce, in need of a heart transplant. Ultimately, afterNina finds evidence suggesting that Saxon put a hit on Jim’s brother, Jim can’t help but get to the bottom of it.
Sylvia Mathis Became The FBI’s First Black Woman Agent In 1976
She Worked Primarily In New York & Left The Bureau After 3 Years
Nina Hayes is loosely inspired by Sylvia Mathis, the first ever black woman to become an FBI agent. Mathis accomplished this in 1976, whereasDusterseason 1 takes place in 1972, a notable difference from Mathis’s actual life. Additionally, Mathis worked in organized crime in New York, not Arizona, and she was only on the force for 3 years. Mathis left the FBI to become an attorney and died tragically in a car crash in 1983 at the age of 34. Apart from being characterized as the first black woman FBI agent,there are few similarities between Nina Hayes and the real-life Sylvia Mathis.
In an interview withScreen Rant(displayed above), Hilson discusses the legacy that Mathis and many “first” black women in various regions at the FBI had in developing Nina Hayes. “I was able to talk to several… [female] black agents actually and get their takes on being the first of their kind in their respective cities.“Hilson also credits retired FBI agent Jerri Williams, who worked at the FBI during the 1980s and was a consultant onDusterseason 1, for her knowledge and real-world insight. “It was nice to get her perspective and to have her be a proxy for the other firsts.”
Duster’s Fictional Nina Hayes Joined The Bureau In 1972
Mathis Worked Undercover & Interviews Several Jonestown Survivors
While there are some similarities between Hayes and Mathis,Dusterdoesn’t take too much direct inspiration from her. There are more differences than similarities, butit’s impossible not to mention Mathis in the same breath as Hayessince she was truly the first black woman FBI agent in history. According to theFBI, Mathis “helped investigate illegal gambling and extortion cases” in New York. She also “worked a variety of other matters, including handling short-term undercover duties and interviewing survivors of the 1978 massacre in Jonestown, Guyana.”
In an interview withEsquire,Dusterco-creator LaToya Morgan mentions that Mathis was kept in mind while developing Hayes, but she’s the only character in the series who had any semblance of real-life influence. Instead,Morgan drew inspiration from another female figurewith great personal significance to her. “I thought of my own mother,” Morgan revealed. “It was trying to drill down into this tenacious young [woman]. She’s like a bulldog with a bone. She will not let go of this case, and is willing to break a few rules.” Now that Jim’s her secret weapon inDusterseason 1, Nina could make some progress in taking down Saxon.
