WARNING: SPOILERS ahead for Duster season 1, episode 1.
Rachel Hilson’s FBI agent character in Duster season 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, Duster is a 1970s throwback crime thriller series streaming exclusively on the newly rebranded HBO Max. Hilson leads the cast of Duster season 1 with Josh Holloway, best known for playing Sawyer on Abrams’ breakout hit TV series Lost. By the end ofDuster season 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.
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, whereas Duster season 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 with Screen 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 on Duster season 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.”
Mathis Worked Undercover & Interviews Several Jonestown Survivors
While there are some similarities between Hayes and Mathis, Duster doesn’t take too much direct inspiration from her. There are more differences than similarities, but it’s impossible not to mention Mathis in the same breath as Hayes since she was truly the first black woman FBI agent in history. According to the FBI, 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 with Esquire, Duster co-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 figure with 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 in Duster season 1, Nina could make some progress in taking down Saxon.
