EbonyLife To Adapt Wole Soyinka’s Play, ‘Death And The King’s Horseman’ Into A Film

Late last year, we mentioned that Wole Soyinka‘s acclaimed play, The Lion and the Jewel is being adapted into a film by Tunde Kelani. Now, Mo Abudu has also announced that EbonyLife will be adapting another Wole Soyinka play, Death and the King’s Horseman, into a film.

Sharing the epic news on Instagram, Abudu said:

“Work and planning continues with EbonyLife Films development of our forthcoming feature film – Death and the King’s Horseman – Yes beautiful people EbonyLife Films has acquired the rights to make this incredible work into a feature film for global distribution. We will continue to change the narrative and tell our stories.”

First debuted in 1975, Death and the King’s Horseman is based on a true story in Nigeria’s colonial history (Oyo state, 1946)  where a British officer intervened to stop the horseman of a deceased Yoruba chief from committing ritual suicide, as dictated by Yoruba tradition/law.

Africa (and Nigeria’s) rich history has previously been ignored, thanks to the prevailing interest in whitewashed and white-focused stories, so it’s super impressive to see a local studio in charge of developing African stories and disrupting the one-dimensional narrative of Africa. No release date or cast has been revealed but we honestly cannot wait to watch this!