Tomi Adeyemi, author of the bestselling novel “Children of Blood and Bone,” told fans this week that she will not watch the film version of her own book, capping months of silence about a project she co-wrote and helped produce. The disclosure, posted in a series of TikTok and Instagram messages, marks the clearest sign yet of a rift between Adeyemi and Paramount Pictures ahead of the movie’s January 15, 2027, release.
Adeyemi wrote that she has avoided any cut of the film and called the decision to stay quiet about it “painful.” She asked fans who want to support her to buy copies of her Legacy of Orïsha trilogy from an independent bookstore rather than promote the movie itself. In a separate screenshot dated February 2025, she told star Amandla Stenberg, who plays Princess Amari, never to mention her name again and to stop contacting her.
That message surfaced around the same period Stenberg pushed back publicly against fans who accused her of taking a role written for a darker-skinned actress. Stenberg said at the time that Adeyemi had backed her casting, a claim the author has not addressed directly. Reaction to Adeyemi’s posts has split her audience, with some readers defending her right to protect her work and others accusing her of undermining a production she once championed.
Adeyemi holds an executive producer credit and shares screenplay credit with director Gina Prince-Bythewood, known for “The Woman King” and “The Old Guard.” The film features Thuso Mbedu, Tosin Cole, Damson Idris, Cynthia Erivo, Lashana Lynch, Idris Elba, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Regina King and Viola Davis, and finished filming in mid-2025 after cameras rolled that spring. Paramount showed early footage at CinemaCon in April, a preview that reportedly drew a muted response from industry observers.
The project spent years moving between studios before landing at Paramount. Fox once held an option with a different director attached, and Lucasfilm briefly controlled the rights after Disney’s 2019 acquisition of Fox before letting the adaptation lapse. Paramount secured the rights in January 2022, restarting development with Adeyemi’s direct involvement in the script.
Neither Paramount nor Stenberg’s representatives have issued a public response to Adeyemi’s remarks.
