The first trailer for “Children of Blood and Bone” doesn’t open with spectacle — it opens with a mother kneeling in the sand, telling her daughter a story. “Orïsha was once a land where magic flowed through our people,” Lashana Lynch’s Jumoke says to a young Zélie, before the footage jumps forward to reveal the fuller scope of Paramount’s fantasy adaptation, according to Deadline.
Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood from a script she co-wrote with author Tomi Adeyemi, the film adapts Adeyemi’s 2018 novel of the same name, which debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list and launched a trilogy that concluded with 2024’s “Children of Anguish and Anarchy,” according to Variety. “Children of Blood and Bone” opens in theaters and IMAX January 15, 2027.
A Kingdom Built Around Suppressed Magic
The story follows Thuso Mbedu as Zélie Adebola, a young woman capable of commanding undead spirits in a kingdom where magic was once common among the Maji people before King Saran, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, moved to wipe it out, according to Variety. In the trailer, Saran makes his stance unambiguous, declaring magic “a festering disease” that needs to be purged, according to FirstShowing.net. Zélie’s quest to restore what was taken pulls in Princess Amari (Amandla Stenberg) and her brother Tzain (Tosin Cole), while Prince Inan (Damson Idris) begins questioning his father’s legacy from inside the palace, according to Essence.
An Ensemble Built for the Big Screen
The supporting cast reads like a modern who’s-who of Black British and American acting talent: Cynthia Erivo as Commander Kaea, Regina King as Queen Nehanda, Idris Elba as Lekan, and Viola Davis as Mama Agba round out the ensemble, according to Hollywood Reporter. For Prince-Bythewood, it’s a reunion of sorts — Mbedu, Davis, and Lynch all previously worked with the director on 2022’s “The Woman King,” Variety noted.
Behind the camera, the film is produced by Wyck Godfrey, John Fischer, Isaac Klausner, Karen Rosenfelt, and Matt Jackson, with a lengthy list of executive producers that includes Adeyemi herself alongside Jeff Waxman, Jennifer Madeloff, Reggie Rock Bythewood, Marty Bowen, and others, according to The Wrap.
Paramount marked the trailer’s release with an exclusive launch event in New York City on July 27, where Prince-Bythewood and cast members including Mbedu, Cole, Lynch, King, and Zackary Momoh discussed the production’s scale and cultural significance during a Q&A, according to ScreenRant. Filming wrapped back in June 2025, with production traveling to locations across the African continent to bring Orïsha to the screen. While Paramount holds the rights to adapt all three books in Adeyemi’s trilogy, the studio has yet to formally announce plans for sequels.
