Lupita Nyong’o & Viola Davis To Play Mother & Daughter In New African Film

What a time to be alive, and what a time to be black and proud! Thanks to the critical and box office success of Black Panther, more films based on African stories are finally being green-lit by Hollywood studios. But not only are there more African stories being told, there are also more stories across genres – from afrofuturism to drama etc – leading to more diversity in our representation!

First, we heard about Nnedi Okorafor’s acclaimed book ,Who Fears Death being turned into a TV series, then Chimamanda’s Americanah and Trevor Noah’s Born A Crime also getting the TV and movie treatment – both starring and being produced by Lupita Nyong’o.

Now, reports have surfaced that Lupita will be starring alongside one of the greatest to ever do it, Viola Davis in The Woman King.

The Woman King is based on true events which occurred in the Kingdom of Dahomey (now present-day Benin Republic), one of the most powerful states in Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.

According to Variety, the historical drama will tell the story of Nanisca (Davis), the general of an all-female military unit known as the Amazons, and her daughter Nawi (Nyong’o), who together fought the French colonisers and neighbouring tribes who “violated their honour, enslaved their people, and threatened to destroy everything they’ve lived for”.

Aside from how excited we are to see Viola Davis and Lupita Nyong’o acting together as badass 18th century African warriors, we are super elated to see both Oscar winners finally getting more roles – and roles that aren’t stereotypical (aka slaves or the help) or keep these gorgeous actresses on the back burner.

In a quote given to Variety, Cathy Schulman, a producer on the project said:

“Black Panther just showed us how the power of imagination and lore could reveal a world without gender and racial stereotypes,”

“The Woman King will tell one of history’s greatest forgotten stories from the real world in which we live, where an army of African warrior women staved off slavery, colonialism and inter-tribal warfare to unify a nation.”