Americanah’s live-action series has suffered a setback at HBO Max. Reports have it that the miniseries, initially scheduled to premiere in 2021, has been canceled.
While details are still sketchy at the moment, it may be noted that the streamer is said to have shelved the project for reasons not far from Covid-19 and its effect on the movie and TV industry. According to sources, the decision to not proceed with ‘Americanah’ was made after Oscar winner Nyong’o, who’s supposed to play Ifemelu, dropped out because of a scheduling conflict. The miniseries was originally slated to begin filming early this year, that was before Covid-19 struck and halted productions around the world.
Previously attached to the project, in addition to Nyong’o, were stars like Uzo Aduba (Aunty Uju), Zackary Momoh (Obinze), and Corey Hawkins (Blaine); following the cancellation, your guess is as good as mine where this development leaves them. The silver lining, though, is that Danai Gurira, who was supposed to serve as Executive Producer alongside Nyong’o, still holds the film rights to the bestselling novel, hence, can still shop it to another streamer, TV network, or movie studio that may be interested. Did someone just whisper Netflix?
We have our fingers crossed at this time; hopefully, we get some version of good news soon.
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