Tomi Adeyemi’s celebrated young adult novel Children of Blood and Bone will soon be adapted into an action fantasy film by Fox 2000 and director Rick Famuyiwa, THR reports.
Children of Blood and Bone is Famuyiwa’s first fantasy movie. The Nigerian-American filmmaker is generally known for directing comedy and romance films, including Dope, The Wood, and Brown Sugar. Yet there’s always a connecting theme within Famuyiwa’s films, which is to document the Black experience in diverse ways. With Children of Blood and Bone, the gifted director will dive into fantastical West African worlds, which has the potential of bringing an audience together in ways similar to how Black Panther’s fictional world of Wakanda does.
Set in the kingdom of Orisha, the novel follows a young woman named Zelie Adebola who witnesses the death of her mother and other magicians following the order of a cold-blooded king. Zelie has an opportunity to bring magic back to her land, but it is through a journey that includes teaming up with a villainous princess, outsmarting a prince, and avoiding evil spirits that lurk in the waters. “They killed my mother. They took our magic. They tried to bury us. Now we rise,” reads the book’s synopsis.
David Magee, known for Life of Pi and Mary Poppins Returns, penned the script for the film.
Children of Blood and Bone is the first book in Adeyemi’s Legacy of Orisha series. The follow-up, Children of Virtue and Vengeance, is set to be released on June 4th of this year.
