Children Of Blood & Bone Author’s Movie Involvement Clarified By Director After Publicly Denouncing Adaptation

Filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood just revealed how involved author Tomi Adeyemi was in the upcoming adaptation of her fantasy novel Children of Blood and Bone.

The movie is still six months away from being released, but the franchise was recently hit with a shocking revelation. Adeyemi publicly denounced the film adaptation, despite being instrumental in bringing it to life on the big screen. While she hasn’t revealed many details about the situation, the author did block cast member Amandla Stenberg on social media platforms.

Image via Paramount Pictures

During an interview with Essence, Prince-Bythewood opened up about working with Adeyemi on the Children of Blood and Bone movie, which is the filmmaker’s fourth time working on an adaptation, so she always has respect for the authors who created the source material.

“The book is always the Bible. It’s not a blueprint,” she explained, adding, “There’s a reason why people fell in love with the book.”

The development process for Children of Blood and Bone was difficult and filled with various speed bumps along the way, including a studio change from Disney/Lucasfilm to Paramount and multiple writers trying to figure out how to adapt the rich and deep story that the author wrote.

Once Prince-Bythewood read the book, though, she immediately had a vision for the adaptation. “The beauty of this process is that Tomi and I were aligned in that vision,” she claimed.

This is my fourth adaptation, and my respect for authors is always my north star. For me, the book is always the Bible. It’s not a blueprint. There’s a reason why people fell in love with the book, and I’m no different. And so I’m, of course, going to honor the source material that everyone fell in love with. And this is a book that I loved. Now that’s not to say this wasn’t hard. I mean, cracking this was a beast; five writers and two studios before me were unable to crack it. But the second I read the book, I started to see the film and just felt so deeply inspired by this vision of how to bring it to screen. This film is beautifully inspired by Nigeria and inclusive of the whole diaspora. I get to create this fantasy world, and I wanted all of us to be able to see ourselves in this world, the full breadth of us, our full humanity, every beautiful hue, because I truly believe that’s where our magic lies. The beauty of this process is that Tomi and I were aligned in that vision. So this film is a true celebration of the Black diaspora from the story to the casting to the world-building designs, costume, action, choreography, music, all of it.”

When Lucasfilm still held the rights, Adeyemi reportedly wanted to write the script but was rejected for that role. Once Paramount took over, the bestselling author was able to co-write the script with Prince-Bythewood, who previously directed The Woman King, The Old Guard and The Secret Life of Bees.

The process started with Adeyemi writing the first draft, then Prince-Bythewood took over and helped to refine the script.

The filmmaker admitted that she always finds it scary to show a script she wrote to the author. Fortunately, Adeyemi “loved it, and then from that point on, I really brought her into the process, I think, more than I actually have in the past.” Going forward, the author continued to express excitement seemingly every step of the way.

Adeyemi also served as an executive producer, so she had a say in the casting process, production design and costumes as well. It “meant a lot” to Prince-Bythewood that Adeyemi approved of the choices being made and had a “beautiful collaboration” with the filmmaking team. “To get her co-sign on this was everything,” the director added.

“As I said, this is my fourth adaptation, and my approach to it is, foremost, I want the author to love what we do. We’re all here because of what came out of their brain. And so in collaborating with her, it started with the script, and she had written the first draft, and then I came aboard and took over the draft and wrote my vision. And it’s always funny, every single time I do it, it’s always the scariest person to show the script to the author. But as it has been in the past, she loved it. And then from that point on, I really brought her into the process, I think, more than I actually have in the past. And just because it was exciting to be able to have this experience, it’s a miracle to get any film made, but to get this film made is an absolute true miracle. There was just such excitement from her about everything. It was fun to share. And that’s getting her thoughts on casting and sharing the production design and the costume and the fights, just everything she loved. And I wanted her to be excited by every element and to be able to have that beautiful collaboration. It meant a lot to me.
“It happened early on with our first meeting. I spoke to her about my vision of how I wanted to approach it, of bringing all of us into this incredible fantasy world to allow all of us to see ourselves reflected beautifully and heroically. It was from that moment that we were completely aligned on vision. And that just continued through the script process when I would show her the artwork, which was always exciting, costumes, fights, etc. Everything that I was showing her and creating to build this world, she was enthralled by. And that’s inspiring as a director because, again, we’re here because of something that came from her, and we want to honor that. And so to get her co-sign on this was everything.”

It’s unknown if Prince-Bythewood’s interview with Essence took place before or after Adeyemi’s public denouncement of the film, as the controversy was never brought up.

In Children of Blood and Bone, Zélie Adebola sets out on a journey to bring magic back to the kingdom of Orïsha after a king eradicated it. Adeyemi published two sequels, Children of Virtue and Vengeance and Children of Anguish and Anarchy, to wrap up the trilogy.

Aside from Stenberg, the upcoming Children of Blood and Bone film adaptation also stars Viola Davis, Cynthia Erivo, Idris Elba, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Regina King, Thuso Mbedu, Tosin Cole, Damson Idris and Lashana Lynch.

Children of Blood and Bone will be released in theaters on Friday, January 15, 2027.