According to Deadline, This is Us writer Kay Oyegun has been tapped to write the script adaptation of the fantasy epic Children of Blood and Bone, based on the bestselling novel by Nigerian-American author Tomi Adeyemi. Dope‘s Rick Famuyiwa was tapped to direct back in February and remains attached to the project.
The film was originally in development under the Fox 2000 label but following the Disney acquisition the project caught the eye of Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy, where the adaptation is now set up.This makes the project the first non-Star Wars or Indiana Jones project to be produced by Lucasfilm since Disney’s acquisition of the company in 2012.
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Original producers Marty Bowen, Issac Klausner and John Fischer are still attached as producers, though Lucasfilm will likely do the heavy lifting on this one.
The novel, written by Tomi Adeyemi and published in March 2018, follows a young woman in a mystical world named Orisha who witnesses the death of her mother and other magicians known as the maji by order of an unruly king and must team up with a rogue princess to avoid a crown prince, vengeful spirits and snow “leoponaires” to try and bring magic back to the land.
The 25-year-old Nigerian-American author was thrust into the spotlight with the publishing deal of Blood and Bone, which was her debut novel and sold for a seven-figure deal to Henry Holt Books. The novel, the first in a planned trilogy, also gained attention for the fact that 20th Century Fox bought the adaptation rights to the novel prior to its publication.
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Famuyiwa, who is most notable for directing the acclaimed coming-of-age dramedy Dope and whose other credits include Brown Sugar, Our Family Wedding, Confirmation and an unknown number of episodes on the upcoming Disney+ series The Mandalorian, will direct the film based on a script written by David Magee (Mary Poppins Returns).
The second novel in Adeyemi’s Legacy of Orisha trilogy, Children of Virtue and Vengeance, is set to be released on June 4.
