The Woman King Starring Viola Davis Will Be Directed By The Old Guard Filmmaker Gina Prince Bythewood

By Chris Evangelista/July 15, 2020 5:30 pm EST

Lupita Nyong’o was originally set to play the daughter character, Nawi, but it looks like Nyong'0 has moved on, which is a pity because a movie with this premise starring Viola Davis and Lupita Nyong’o would’ve been fantastic (not to say it won’t still be good without her). Davis is one of the best actors working right now, and I’m excited to see her lead a pic like this.

The Woman King will be produced by Cathy Schulman’s Welle Entertainment, Viola Davis, and Julius Tennon of JuVee Productions and Maria Bello of Jack Blue Productions. In a statement, Davis and Tennon said:

I seem to be one of the only people in the world who didn’t care for The Old Guard, but my dislike of the movie was based on story, not direction, so I’m looking forward to seeing Prince-Bythewood work with stronger material.