On Wednesday, Netflix unveiled a forthcoming documentary series that will cover the lives of historical African queens. The first season titled African Queens: Njinga tells, in four episodes, the story of Queen Njinga, a 17th-century warrior queen who ruled over Ndongo and Matumba, two regions now in modern-day northern Angola.
Premiering on the American streaming service on February 15, this partly dramatised documentary will trace Njinga’s rise to power and, relying on accounts from historians, portray some of the major events that happened during her 39 years of reign.
Mostly famed for her diplomatic skills and military prowess, Njinga is particularly remembered for her wars of resistance against an imperial Portuguese power. In Angola where she is regarded as a national hero, a major street in the country’s capital Luanda is named after her.
“I hope you will tune in to honor the legacy of this powerful warrior queen whose story was almost lost and forgotten,” wrote the American actress Jada Pinkett Smith, who is not only this documentary’s narrator but also one of its many executive producers.
While Westbrook Studios and Nutopia co-produced the documentary, NneNne Iwuji (Yellow) and Peres Owino (Bound: Africans vs African-Americans) worked on the screenplay.
This documentary is not the first cinematic tribute made for the warrior queen. An epic film centred on her, which Sérgio Graciano directed, was released in 2013.
Watch trailer here: