Gina Prince-Bythewood adapts Tomi Adeyemi’s bestselling fantasy trilogy opener, shot on location across Africa and arriving in cinemas January 2027.
Paramount has pulled back the curtain on Children of Blood and Bone, releasing the first trailer for its adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi’s fantasy phenomenon. The film opens in theaters on Jan. 15, 2027.
The story unfolds in Orïsha, an invented African kingdom where magic once flourished before being torn away by force. Per the official logline, a young woman sets out to recover the magic stolen from her people, joining forces with her brother and with the son and daughter of the king to challenge his brutal rule.
Who’s who in Orïsha
Thuso Mbedu leads the cast as Zélie, introduced in the trailer as a young woman able to summon and command the spirits of the dead. Orïsha itself is carved into clans, each with its own magical inheritance, all of it driven underground under the terror-fuelled reign of King Saran, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor.
The ensemble around her runs deep. Damson Idris plays Prince Inan and Amandla Stenberg plays Princess Amari, the king’s children who cross to the other side of the fight. Tosin Cole appears as Tzain, Zélie’s brother, and Regina King takes the role of Queen Nehanda. Lashana Lynch, Idris Elba, Cynthia Erivo and Viola Davis fill out the supporting ranks.
A reunion for Prince-Bythewood
Gina Prince-Bythewood directs, reassembling several collaborators from her 2022 historical epic The Woman King, which also featured Mbedu, Davis and Lynch.
Rather than build Orïsha inside a soundstage, production moved across multiple locations on the African continent. Prince-Bythewood’s aim was to hand her actors a tangible world to work in, keeping the film grounded even as the magic takes hold.
From bestseller list to blockbuster
Adeyemi’s novel arrived in 2018 and went straight to No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. She followed it with Children of Virtue and Vengeance in 2019 and closed out the trilogy in 2024 with Children of Anguish and Anarchy.
Children of Blood and Bone opens in theaters Jan. 15, 2027.