The Oscar-winning Nyong’o is teaming with The Walking Dead’s on HBO Max’s
10-episode limited series adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s bestselling
novel.
Gurira will write the pilot and
serve as showrunner, while Nyong’o will star. Both will serve as executive
producers. Nyong’o will play Ifemelu, “a young, beautiful, self-assured
woman raised in Nigeria, who as a teenager falls in love with her classmate
Obinze,” per Variety. “Living in a military-ruled country, they each
depart for the west, with Ifemelu heading for America, where, despite her
academic success, she is forced to grapple for the first time with what it
means to be black.
Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped
to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into
a dangerous undocumented life in London.
” Nyong’o says of the HBO Max adaptation: “Americanah has been a
passion project for me since I read Chimamanda’s beautiful novel in 2013. It’s
a tale that is simultaneously timely and timeless. HBO Max is the perfect
partner to bring this profound and celebrated story to life, and I’m thrilled
that Danai will bring to the project her intelligence, wit, and understanding
of the stories and the worlds of Americanah.”
