The dream team behind HBO Max’s adaptation of “Americanah” just added another member to their folds. Deadline reports that “Clemency” writer-director Chinonye Chukwu has signed on to helm the first two episodes of the limited series based on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s acclaimed best-seller of the same name. “Black Panther” co-stars Lupita Nyong’o and Danai Gurira are reuniting for the project. The former is starring and the latter is writing and serving as showrunner. Both are exec producing.
The 10-episode drama will see Nyong’o playing Ifemelu, a Nigerian woman who moves to America to attend college and build a writing career. During her time away, Ifemelu grapples with race, racism, and the complexities of black identity. Meanwhile, she maintains an intense connection to her first love, Obinze, whom she reconnects with when she returns to Nigeria.
“Fresh off her Sundance Grand Jury Prize for ‘Clemency,’ we are thrilled to have Chinonye direct the first two episodes of ‘Americanah,’” said Sarah Aubrey, head of original content at HBO Max. “When she spoke so passionately about what it meant to her as a Nigerian filmmaker to tell this story, we knew we had the perfect partner to work alongside Danai, Lupita, and Plan B.”
In theaters now, “Clemency” stars Alfre Woodard as a morally conflicted prison warden struggling with her responsibility to carry out death penalty executions.
Chukwu made her feature directorial debut with 2012’s “alaskaLand,” a drama about an estranged Nigerian brother and sister who reunite in their hometown of Fairbanks, Alaska.
When we asked Chukwu her advice for other women directors she said, “Be intentional and intersectional in your support of other female directors. Don’t define your joy by your external successes or perceived failures or shortcomings. Our joy is the light inside of us that has nothing to do with anyone else or any accolade. This is our true source of power.”
Chukwu is attached to direct “A Taste of Power,” an adaptation of former Black Panther leader Elaine Brown’s 1992 memoir.
