{"id":609334,"date":"2026-07-29T03:45:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T03:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/609334\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T03:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T03:45:17","slug":"why-children-of-blood-and-bone-director-turned-down-film-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/609334\/","title":{"rendered":"Why \u2018Children of Blood and Bone\u2019 director turned down film twice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The official trailer for the film adaptation of the African fantasy novel \u201cChildren of Blood and Bone<\/a>\u201d is making a splash online, and the director just revealed that she almost didn\u2019t make the film. <\/p>\n

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (\u201cThe Woman King<\/a>\u201d), the film stars a slew of A-list actors including Regina King<\/a>, Damson Idris<\/a>, Cynthia Erivo<\/a>, Amandla Stenberg<\/a>, Idris Elba<\/a>, Tosin Cole, Viola Davis<\/a>, Chiwetel Ejiofor<\/a>, Lashana Lynch<\/a> and Thuso Mbedu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The adaptation of the first installment of author Tomi Adeyemi\u2019s bestselling \u201cLegacy of Or\u00efsha\u201d fantasy trilogy is slated to hit theaters Jan. 15. The story follows Z\u00e9lie Adebola, a courageous young woman with dormant magical abilities who has drawn the attention of tyrannical King Saran, the ruler of the kingdom of Or\u00efsha, a fictional country in an alternative precolonial Nigeria inhabited by two distinct ethnic groups: div\u00eeners (inherently magical people who have had their magic stolen by King Saran) and the non-magical kosid\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Paramount held a \u201cChildren of Blood and Bone\u201d trailer launch event<\/a> at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. In a discussion moderated by \u201cMaster of None\u201d actor Lena Waithe, Prince-Bythewood and the cast talked about the making and almost-not-making of the film. <\/p>\n

According to Prince-Bythewood, helming \u201cThe Woman King\u201d felt like the thing she\u2019d been working toward her entire career. \u201cAnd then this came and it was something even bigger and in a space that we hadn\u2019t got to see ourselves in, which was big epic fantasy,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd as much as I needed a little rest, I couldn\u2019t say no. And the beauty of this is that I was actually offered this film two different times over the last seven years. And both times I turned it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prince-Bythewood admitted that she wasn\u2019t emotionally ready to hop on board and that she didn\u2019t know how to make an epic fantasy film yet. \u201cBut there was something about this third time when they came to me,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI still said, \u2018I already turned it down so you\u2019re wasting your time.\u2019\u201d She continued that she had realized, in retrospect, that the third offer came when it was supposed to come. Plus, with \u201cThe Woman King\u201d under her belt, now she knew how to make the movie. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was something so deep and guttural about my connection this time when I read it,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt so connected to this young hero who\u2019s fighting to find her purpose. There is so much going on in the world right now, and there\u2019s so many themes within this that speak to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Prince-Bythewood gushed about loving the book, the story and the characters. \u201cNow how do I actualize it? How do I make it a film? And that\u2019s the exciting and scary part. How do we make magic feel cultural?\u201d<\/p>\n

The director said her big-screen adaptation was \u201cbeautifully inspired by Nigeria and also inclusive of the whole diaspora. We wanted all of us to be able to see ourselves within this, just our complete and utter humanity, all the beautiful hues.\u201d <\/p>\n

The remark is notable in light of behind-the-scenes drama that has unfolded over the last year and a half. Prince-Bythewood co-wrote the script with Adeyemi, but the author recently distanced herself from the book-to-screen project and said she would not see the film after a casting controversy involving Stenberg<\/a>, who portrays Princess Amari in the film. <\/p>\n

In February 2025, Stenberg posted a since-deleted nine-minute TikTok addressing backlash that suggested colorism was at play when she landed the gig. She told followers that Adeyemi had given the actor her blessing when cast as the series\u2019 princess.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am four months into training for \u2018Children of Blood and Bone\u2019 and I am getting my ass whooped,\u201d Stenberg joked in the video, per BET<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had the opportunity to meet Tomi, the novelist, for the first time. \u2026 And she goes, \u2018Amandla, I want you to know that when you were a little girl and you were cast as Rue in \u2018The Hunger Games,\u2019 and people said that Rue\u2019s death wouldn\u2019t be as sad because you\u2019re a Black girl \u2014 that inspired me to write this series so that Black girls like you and Black girls of all shades could have a story written about them.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

Shortly after Stenberg said Adeyemi gave the actor her blessing, they had a text exchange that hinted at a change of heart or different story entirely. <\/p>\n

This month, the Nigerian American author posted a since-deleted video on TikTok addressing fans who had been \u2014 according to her \u2014 asking her the same question, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you post about the adaptation of your first film adaptation anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a reason I will not post anything about the adaptation of my work,\u201d the author wrote in what appeared to be screenshots of a group chat. \u201cI have not seen the film, and I will not watch it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alongside the screenshots of her comments in the group chat, she shared a February 2025 exchange with Stenberg<\/a>. Adeyemi shared only her final message to the actor, which read, \u201cDo not ever use my name in an interview or video again. Do not text me. Do not call me.\u201d That exchange is followed by a notification that she blocked Stenberg.<\/p>\n

The message from Stenberg that preceded Adeyemi\u2019s reply was not shown in full.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The official trailer for the film adaptation of the African fantasy novel \u201cChildren of Blood and Bone\u201d is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[263],"tags":[257303,21293,257302,244630,90,13161,3914,257304,45374,18,117,597,256930,19,17,327,246060,1217,257305,836],"class_list":["post-609334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-a-list-actor","tag-adaptation","tag-adeyemi","tag-amandla-stenberg","tag-blood","tag-bone","tag-children","tag-different-time","tag-director","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-film","tag-gina-prince-bythewood","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-stenberg","tag-story","tag-tyrannical-king-saran","tag-video"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117001213550991883","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}