This morning, Paramount released the first trailer for Children of Blood and Bone, their buzzy adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi’s bestselling young adult novel.
Set to a Beyoncé soundtrack and teasing a murderer’s row of our best living actors—including Viola Davis, Regina King, Amandla Stenberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Idris Elba, and Cynthia Erivo—the trailer depicts the lush, fictional kingdom of Orïsha, where the novel is set.
As in the book, it seems we follow a heroine’s journey. Zélie Adebola (Thuso Mbedu) is a chosen one of sorts, tasked to bring magic back to her world after a cruel king kills her mother.
The novel was a runaway success, lauded for its epic scale and lushly imagined pan-African backdrop. And if the below is anything to go by, the film could be, too.
However, author Tomi Adeyemi has been outspoken about her disapproval of this adaptation.
In an emotional TikTok released yesterday, Adeyemi told fans that adapting her book to screen was “the worst thing [she] ever had to live through.” She’s previously alluded to friction with stars and peers on the creative team—perhaps concerning colorism in the casting pool.
In that same TikTok, she put the kibosh on future collabs and declared an intention to never speak about the project again.
As Vulture reported this morning, Adeyemi is still credited as a co-screenwriter on the film, alongside director Gina Prince-Bythewood. But in another set of Instagram posts released earlier this month, Adeyemi shunted true fans back toward her print matter.
“From this point on, if you want to support me,” she wrote, “you can purchase any edition of the trilogy at a local independent children’s bookstore.”
