“Binti” is making its way to the screen. An adaptation of Nnedi Okorafor’s award-winning sci-fi novella is in the works at Hulu. The streamer handed out a script order to the TV series with the Nigerian American author on board to co-write and exec produce alongside Stacy Osei-Kuffour (“Watchmen,” “The Morning Show”). The Hollywood Reporter broke the news.
Set in a “technologically and socially advanced future,” “Binti” tells the story of a Binti, a “brilliant and rebellious young woman who is destined to lead her community in Africa. But when she’s admitted to the most prestigious academy in the galaxy, she chooses a different path and, rejecting her family’s wishes, leaves her community behind in favor of the starry skies,” the source summarizes.
“[Bitni] doesn’t beat anybody up, she doesn’t have magical abilities that make her above everybody, but her superpower is negotiation,” Okorafor has said. “It is not passive but it is a different type of strength. I would like to see more examples of what make someone a superhero. I think that people feel encouraged just by the idea that they could be that superhero, and that itself is empowering.”
Okorafor is the daughter of Nigerian immigrants. She was raised in Illinois and spent holidays with her extended family in Nigeria. “Nigeria is my muse,” she’s explained. “The idea of the world being a magical place, a mystical place, is normal there.”
“Binti,” a Hugo and Nebula winner, is the first novella in a series of three. The 2015 title was followed by 2017’s “Binti: Home” and 2018’s “Binti: The Night Masquerade.”
Okorafor’s other books include “Lagoon,” “Who Fears Death,” and “The Book of Phoenix.”
Check out Okorafor’s TED talk about the inspiration and roots of her Afrofuturist writing below.
