The trailer for the movie based on the fantasy book “Children of Blood and Bone” is getting a lot of attention, and the director recently shared that there was a time she almost didn’t direct it.
Gina Prince-Bythewood, who directed “The Woman King,” helms this new film featuring a star-studded cast. The ensemble includes Regina King, Damson Idris, Cynthia Erivo, Amandla Stenberg, Idris Elba, Tosin Cole, Viola Davis, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lashana Lynch, and Thuso Mbedu.
The movie adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi’s popular fantasy novel, the first in the “Legacy of Orïsha” trilogy, will be released in theaters on January 15th. The story centers on Zélie Adebola, a brave young woman with hidden magical powers who becomes a target of the ruthless King Saran, who rules the kingdom of Orïsha. Orïsha is a fictional country inspired by precolonial Nigeria and is home to two groups of people: the divîners, who were born with magic but had it taken by the king, and the kosidán, who have no magical abilities.
Paramount premiered the trailer for “Children of Blood and Bone” on Monday at a special event in Brooklyn, New York. Director Prince-Bythewood and the actors discussed the challenges and triumphs of bringing the movie to life in a conversation led by Lena Waithe of “Master of None.”
Directing “The Woman King” felt like the culmination of everything Prince-Bythewood had worked for. She explained that the film was even larger in scope than her previous projects, offering a new kind of epic fantasy story—and a chance to see stories she hadn’t seen before. Despite needing a break, she couldn’t refuse the opportunity. Interestingly, she’d been offered the film twice in the past seven years, and had previously turned it down both times.
Prince-Bythewood explained she wasn’t initially prepared to take on the project, as she lacked experience with large-scale fantasy films. However, when the opportunity came around again, she felt a strong pull to accept.
I told them I’d already declined, so they were wasting their time. She later realized the third offer arrived at the perfect moment. And after working on ‘The Woman King,’ she finally felt prepared to make the film.
I felt a really strong, emotional connection while reading it this time,” she explained. “I really related to this young character and her struggle to find meaning in her life. Given everything happening in the world, the story’s themes felt particularly relevant.
× Prince-Bythewood was passionate about the book, its story, and characters. She then faced the challenge of adapting it into a movie, wondering how to bring that same sense of wonder to life while staying true to the culture within the narrative. It was both an exciting and daunting task.
The director explained that her film was deeply influenced by Nigerian culture while aiming to represent people from across the African diaspora. She emphasized wanting everyone to connect with the story and see their own experiences reflected in its characters and themes – celebrating the full spectrum of human experience.
This statement is particularly interesting considering the difficulties that have happened over the past year and a half. While Prince-Bythewood and Adeyemi originally wrote the screenplay together, Adeyemi has since publicly separated herself from the movie and stated she won’t watch it, following disagreements over casting, specifically regarding Amari, played by Stenberg.
In February 2025, Stenberg responded to criticism on TikTok (the video has since been removed) about whether favoritism based on skin tone influenced her casting. She explained that the original actor who played the princess, Adeyemi, had supported her taking on the role.
In a recent video, Amandla Stenberg jokingly admitted that her training for the movie ‘Children of Blood and Bone’ is proving very challenging after four months, according to BET.
I recently met the author, Tomi. She told me something incredible: when I was cast as Rue in ‘The Hunger Games,’ some people thought my character’s death wouldn’t be impactful because I was Black. Tomi said that those comments actually motivated her to write a series featuring stories about Black girls – girls of every shade – like me.
Soon after Stenberg mentioned Adeyemi had approved of the actor’s involvement, a text conversation revealed Adeyemi might have changed her mind, or was telling a different version of events.
The Nigerian American writer recently shared and then removed a TikTok video responding to repeated questions from fans. They were wondering why she hadn’t been talking about updates on the movie based on her first book.
The author stated they won’t be sharing any thoughts on the movie based on their book. They explained they haven’t seen it and don’t plan to. This message came from what looked like screenshots of a conversation they were having.
She also included screenshots of her conversation with Stenberg from February 2025. Adeyemi only showed the last message she sent him, in which she demanded he never mention her name again in interviews or videos and told him not to contact her. Immediately after this message, a notification appears showing that she blocked Stenberg.
The message from Stenberg that preceded Adeyemi’s reply was not shown in full.
2026-07-29 06:01