Kay Oyegun Will Write a New Script Adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi's 'Children of Blood and Bone'

This is Us and Queen Sugar writer, Kay Oyegun, is currently working on a deal to write a new script adaptation of Nigerian-American author Tomi Adeyemi's bestselling fantasy novel, Children of Blood and Bone. According to Deadline, the award-winning writer will work on the adaptation of the novel under the Fox/Disney label alongside director, Rick Famuyiwa, of Dope, Brown Sugar and The Wood. Should the deal go through, this will be the first film to be produced by Lucasfilm, of the Indiana Jones and Star Wars franchise films, since the company was acquired by Disney almost seven years ago.

Oyegun, who was highlighted as one of OkayAfrica's 100 Women back in 2018, is making some serious career moves this year and we're so here for it. The 31-year-old screenwriter bagged the award for "Best Writing in a Dramatic Series" at the 50th edition of the NAACP awards this year, for her NBC series This is Us. She also went on to sell the feature script for her comedy, Assisted Living, to Paramount Pictures in what was admittedly a greatly contested bid. We don't doubt the talented screenwriter will continue to work her magic in this upcoming film adaptation.

Speaking about her incredibly successful novel to OkayAfrica last year, Adeyemi said, "I knew there was a market for it. I didn't need to make up a bunch of names for cities because I could use real Nigerian cities." She went on to add that, "And what's the magic language that they'll speak? It's not going to be Latin. It's going to be Yoruba. So it made it very easy for me to do."

Adeyemi's sequel, Children of Virtue and Vengeance, is due to be published later on this year. Describing what fans can expect in the second book, she said, "I can't wait for people to meet the new characters, experience the new magic, and dive deeper into the enchanting world of Orïsha."