In the Sony film, the pair will embark on a revenge journey to fight off neighbors who violated their honor, enslaved their people, and destroyed their livelihoods. The film will be directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, who recently made Netflix’s The Old Guard.
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The Woman King is inspired by a true story similar to what happened in the Kingdom of Dahomey. It has been in development since 2018 and Lupita Nyong’o was attached to play Nawi before she dropped out and was replaced by Mbedu. The film was initially greenlit following the success of Black Panther. Filming began in November 2021 in South Africa and other than that, there have been few updates about the movie. That all changed last night when Davis released photos of her in character on Twitter.
Davis captioned the photos, adding that she feels honored and excited to bring this particular story to life. Interestingly enough, this is her first time playing an action star. She has appeared in a handful of DCEU movies as Amanda Waller, sure, but the nature of that character is her using her wit and power to get other people to do her bidding. So, these images came in as a bit of deviation from what fans are used to Davis playing and that’s what makes it so exciting.
It’s nice to see films finally explore the richness of the world’s history. This will open up doors for fans to create new fandoms and know about different mythologies that are just as rich and satisfactory as the ones they grew up with. The Woman King also stars Lashana Lynch, John Boyega, Adrienne Warren, Sheila Atim, Jayme Lawson, and Hero Fiennes Tiffin. Prince-Bythewood penned the final draft of the script with Dana Stevens, who also wrote the original.
The Woman King will premiere in theaters on September 16th, 2022.
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Source: Viola Davis/Twitter
