It’s quite natural to be excited when you get wind that your favourite book or one you’ve read and enjoyed is being made into a movie. It’s even more fascinating when news breaks of a movie adaptation for a book that hasn’t been released. According to several sources, Netflix is working on a film based on the yet-to-be-released novel by Tola Okogwu, Oyenka and the Academy of the Sun. Here is all we know about this project so far:
Tola Okogwu is a British-Nigerian author, journalist and hair care educator popularly known for her book, Daddy Do My Hair. Her new book Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun is distinctly written in a West African setting. It follows the story of Onyeka, a teenager who learns she has psychokinetic powers linked to the curly afro hair she’s always been so insecure about. Following this discovery, Onyeka’s mother takes her to Nigeria to learn more about her origins where she starts attending the Academy of the Sun, a Nigerian school for gifted kids like her. She and her new friends’ powers are put to the test when their newfound magical community is endangered. The book has been described to be a successful blend of Back Panther, X-Men and Percy Jackson. Deadline reports that this is the first in a series of children’s books, set to be published and released in the United States and the United Kingdom in June 2022.
For the adaptation of Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun, Netflix will be working with Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios and David Oyelowo’s Yoruba Saxon. Oyelowo, Smith, Westbrook Studios’ Heather Washington, and Jone Mone are tapped as producers. Jessica Oyelowo and Heather Washington are executive producers on the project. Ola Shokunbi, who is a writer on an ABC series The Fix, is in charge of the screenplay for the movie. The release date and cast for Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun is unknown for now, but we hope to see some Nigerian actors and locations.