Mixed Reactions As Lupita Plays Igbo Character in TV Series of Chimamanda’s ‘Americanah’
The long-awaited on-screen adaptation of Chimamanda’s bestseller, Americanah, is finally coming to life as a ten-episode HBO series starring Lupita Nyong’o and directed by Danai Gurira.
WarnerMedia Entertainment had announced on Friday that a quartet of Plan B Entertainment, Eba Productions, Potboiler Television and D2 Productions will produce adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s best-selling novel, Americanah.
Nyong’o said: “‘Americanah’ has been a passion project for me since I read Chimamanda’s beautiful novel in 2013.”
HBO Max is the perfect partner to bring this profound and celebrated story to life, and I’m thrilled that Danai will bring to the project her intelligence, wit, and understanding of the stories and the worlds of ‘Americanah,’” she said.
Americanah is the story of Ifemelu a young, courageous woman raised in Nigeria who as a teenager falls in love with her classmate Obinze. They each depart for the West during a repressive time of military rule in the country with Ifemelu going to the US and Obinze to London. Both suffer their individual struggles as immigrants. Despite her academic success, life in the US forces Ifemelu to grapple for the first time with what it means to be black.
Nyong’o had earlier planned to adapt Chimamanda’s novel into a film in which she would star alongside David Oyelowo. However, she disclosed last year that the book will rather be adapted into a series.
She will be playing the character of Igbo girl Ifemelu, but this has generated mixed reactions on Twitter as many were of the opinion that a Nigerian actress would have been best for the role.
