Tomi Adeyemi says she is done with the film version of Children of Blood and Bone. On Saturday, she posted on TikTok that she has not seen the movie and will not watch it, then said she is “officially separating” her name from the project because she can no longer keep being “hurt and attacked behind the scenes.”
That public break lands now because the adaptation is still on the calendar for Jan. 15, 2027, and Adeyemi is not speaking like an author waiting for release day. She wrote that she “will not post anything about the adaptation of my work,” added that she does not mind if people go to see it, and said, “I wrote this for us. I fought for us.” For readers searching the Tomi Adeyemi book movie adaptation, the key news is not a fresh trailer or casting update. It is the writer of the source novel stepping away from the film in public.
She did not leave the message vague. In the same post, Adeyemi said, “It’s been painful holding this back from you all,” and followed with, “I will always care about US. More than any glitter.” She also posted a screenshot of a message that read, “Do not ever use my name in an interview or video again. Do not text me. Do not call me.” The screenshot suggested that she had blocked Amandla Stenberg, who plays Princess Amari in the movie.
The friction here goes beyond a simple creative disagreement. Around February 2025, Stenberg posted a TikTok video responding to colorism backlash around her role and said Adeyemi had supported her casting. That post has since been deleted. Adeyemi’s own screenshot carried a February 2025 timestamp, and the timing points to a public split that had already hardened before Saturday’s post. In plain terms, the author is saying she wrote the story for a shared audience, fought for the adaptation, and is now walking away because the private relationship around it broke down.
The film is still moving ahead. Gina Prince-Bythewood is directing the feature adaptation, Adeyemi is credited as a co-screenwriter and executive producer, and Paramount is behind the project. The cast includes Amandla Stenberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Tosin Cole, Damson Idris, Cynthia Erivo, Lashana Lynch, Regina King and Idris Elba. Children of Blood and Bone, first published in 2018, was the debut novel in Adeyemi’s Legacy of Orïsha trilogy and was once in development at Lucasfilm before Paramount acquired it in late 2021. What remains unresolved is whether the adaptation can reach theaters as planned while its most visible author keeps her distance and refuses to attach her name to the rollout.
