Africa: Lupita, Viola Davis Set to Star as African Warriors in New Movie

Viola Davis/Instagram
Viola Davis and Lupita Nyong’o are gearing up for battle.
2 March 2018
allAfrica.com
By Melody Chironda

Cape Town — Oscar-winning actresses Viola Davis and Lupita Nyong'o are set to team up for a new movie, The Woman King, inspired by true events that took place in the Kingdom of Dahomey, a powerful African state in the 18th and 19th centuries.

According to Deadline, TriStar Pictures has picked up the rights to the movie and has cast Davis to play Nanisca, the general of an all-women military unit and Nyong'o to play her daughter, Nawi. The pair fight side-by-side to defend their nation from French invaders and neighboring kingdoms, who have attempted to enslave their people and are threatening their existence.

The Woman King is the latest of several projects Lupita Nyong'o has taken on, following reports that she is set to star in movie based on Trevor Noah's autobiography Born a Crime. The actress will play the comedian's mother. This isn't the only adaptation Nyong'o has in the works as she and her Black Panther co-star, Danai Gurira, are teaming up to develop a big-screen adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel Americanah.

Viola Davis can currently be seen on the fourth season of the ABC series How to Get Away With Murder.

The movie is set to be produced by Cathy Schulman's Welle Entertainment, Davis and Julius Tennon's JuVee Productions, and Bello's Jack Blue Productions, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

No release date has been announced for the film.

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