‘Children of Blood and Bone’ Trailer: Magical African Fantasy Novel Comes to Life With Damson Idris, Cynthia Erivo, Viola Davis and More
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- Paramount released the trailer for 'Children of Blood and Bone,' with the film set to hit theaters on January 15, 2027.
- Thuso Mbedu stars as Zelie, a young woman who sets out to reclaim the magic violently stolen from her people in the fictional African kingdom of Orïsha, where clans possess different magical abilities.
- Chiwetel Ejiofor plays King Saran, whose reign of terror suppresses magic, while Damson Idris, Amandla Stenberg, Tosin Cole, and Regina King round out the core cast as Prince Inan, Princess Amari, Zelie's brother Tzain, and Queen Nehanda.
- Gina Prince-Bythewood directs the film, reuniting with Mbedu, Viola Davis, and Lashana Lynch from her 2022 film 'The Woman King,' with Cynthia Erivo and Idris Elba also in supporting roles.
- The film is adapted from Tomi Adeyemi's 2018 debut novel, which hit No. 1 on the NY Times bestseller list and spawned a trilogy completed by 'The Children of Anguish and Anarchy' in 2024.
- Prince-Bythewood shot the film across various locations on the African continent, deliberately choosing real-life backdrops to ground the magical story in tangible geography.
Why it matters: The adaptation gives Adeyemi's trilogy — whose first book spent years atop bestseller lists — its first screen treatment nearly a decade after publication. Prince-Bythewood's choice to film across the African continent rather than on constructed sets signals a budget and creative commitment to authentic world-building for a fantasy that has sold millions of copies but never reached screens.
