‘Black Panther’ Actress, Danai Gurira, Joins Production Team for Chimamanda’s ‘Americanah’ Miniseries

BRITTLE PAPER/

Following news that Lupita Nyong’o’s adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah would now be a miniseries as opposed to the initial plans for a film, Zimbabwean actress-cum-screenwriter Danai Gurira has signed on to the project. She will be joining her Black Panther co-star as the screenplay writer.

This will be the third collaboration between the two stars, the first two being the Black Pantherfilm, currently trending, and the 2009 play Eclipsed, which earned both filmmakers Tony Award nominations amidst rave reviews. Interestingly, Eclipsed featured them in the same roles they will be taking on for Americanah—Gurira as writer and Nyong’o as lead actress. A lucky charm, maybe?

Gurira is an accomplished screenwriter and playwright who has won a number of laurels including the Whiting Award and a Drama Desk Award in 2016.

Not much more has been said concerning the adaptation. There is no release date yet and nothing is known about the rest of the cast, besides David Oyelowo who was announced back in 2014 to play the role of Obinze. Nyong’o has however made it clear that Americanah is her next focus.