amandla stenberg’s ‘niobe’ comic heads to hbo

Black sci-fi/fantasy is having the greatest renaissance since…ever? From the success of writers like Tomi Adeyemi and Nnedi Okorafor and multi-talented creatives like Jordan Peele and publishers like ComiXology, experimental Black storytelling is finding its way into the mainstream. And with good reason — that shit is fire. And the latest franchise to find another life outside of the pages is the adaptation of the comic book series, Asunda. An incredibly rich afrofuturistic world that has been chronicled in comics like Niobe, Dusu, Erathune, and Essessa, Asuda is based on the universe by Sebastian A. Jones and published by Jones’ Stranger Comics. And, now, HBO has secured the rights for a tv series!

The tv series is set to follow an orphan girl named Niobe Ayutami — co-created by Jones and Amanda Stenberg — who ‘is born of two nations and raised in a small desert town. Niobe goes on a costly journey to find her ancestors “and bind them against an ancient enemy.” Story arcs that were taken from both Niobe: She Is Life and Niobe: She Is Death.

While Stenbergh is not currently attached to star in the project, Jones will co-write and executive produce the series alongside executive producer Mimi DiTrani.

HBO is also in the process of developing, Okorafor’s novel, Who Fears Death, with thee George R.R. Martin.