Children of Blood and Bone official trailer key art showing Prince Inan, Zelie, and Queen Nehanda

Children of Blood and Bone Sets January 2027 Release as Author Tomi Adeyemi Distances Herself From the Paramount Adaptation

November 7, 2026 Noah Frank-Hotinczan

Paramount’s big-budget adaptation of Children of Blood and Bone is now just ten weeks from theaters. The studio has confirmed a January 15, 2027 release date for the West African-inspired fantasy epic, based on Tomi Adeyemi’s bestselling 2018 novel, following the film’s first footage debuting at CinemaCon earlier this year. The countdown comes with an unusual complication, though: Adeyemi, who co-wrote the screenplay and serves as an executive producer, has spent months publicly distancing herself from the very adaptation arriving in theaters this January.

Zélie’s Fight to Reclaim Magic in Orïsha

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Old Guard, The Woman King), who also co-wrote the screenplay with Adeyemi, Children of Blood and Bone follows Zélie Adebola (Thuso Mbedu), a young woman in the fictional kingdom of Orïsha who sets out to restore the magic that was violently stripped from her people by King Saran (Chiwetel Ejiofor). She’s joined on her journey by her older brother Tzain (Tosin Cole), along with the king’s own children, Princess Amari (Amandla Stenberg) and Prince Inan (Damson Idris), who break away from their father’s oppressive rule to help her cause. The sprawling ensemble also includes Viola Davis as Mama Agba, Cynthia Erivo as Admiral Kaea, Idris Elba as Lekan, Lashana Lynch as Jumoke, Regina King as Queen Nehanda, and Richard Mofe-Damijo.

A Winding, Decade-Long Road to the Screen

The path to the screen has been anything but smooth. Fox 2000 Pictures first optioned Adeyemi’s novel back in March 2017, months before the book was even published, with Rick Famuyiwa attached to direct by 2019. When Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox shuttered Fox 2000 that same year, the project moved to Lucasfilm, which would have marked the studio’s first original live-action film outside of Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Lucasfilm ultimately let the rights lapse in late 2021 amid reported disagreements over the pace of development, before Paramount Pictures stepped in to acquire the project in January 2022, with Adeyemi set to write the script herself. Gina Prince-Bythewood came aboard as director in December 2023, nearly a decade after the novel was first optioned for film.

Author Tomi Adeyemi Has Publicly Distanced Herself From the Film

Despite her hand in the screenplay, Adeyemi has made clear in recent months that she wants nothing more to do with the production. In a TikTok video posted this past summer, the author said, “I have not seen the film, and I will not watch it. It’s been painful holding this back from you all.” She described feeling antagonized behind the scenes throughout the process and said she was officially separating her name from the project going forward, while still encouraging fans to support her original novel.

Adeyemi’s frustration appears to be tied at least in part to a rift with Stenberg. The tension traces back to backlash the actress faced over her casting as the dark-skinned Princess Amari, which Stenberg had pushed back on in 2025 by saying Adeyemi had personally welcomed her into the role. Adeyemi’s TikTok post included a screenshot of a message in which she told Stenberg not to contact her again, and she has since blocked the actress. As of this writing, Paramount and the film’s production team have not issued a public response to Adeyemi’s comments, though Prince-Bythewood has continued publicly promoting the project in the months since.